Burden, Matthew Currier 1967(?)- (William Alexander Burden)

PERSONAL:

Born c. 1967, in New York, NY; married, 1995; children: a son and a daughter. Education: University of Chicago, M.S.

ADDRESSES:

Home—IL. E-mail—blackfive@gmail.com.

CAREER:

Executive and writer. Works as an IT executive in Chicago, IL. Also serves on the boards of research organizations. Military service: U.S. Army. Served in the Gulf War and as an intelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), rose to the rank of major.

WRITINGS:

The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Simon & Schuster Paperbacks (New York, NY), 2006.

Also author of the Blackfive.net Web log.

SIDELIGHTS:

Matthew Currier Burden spent sixteen years in the military, including the military reserve. In his first book, The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan, Burden rates military blog sites and includes fifty blogs that he considers to be the best examples of military blogs prior to a U.S. Army 2005 order to monitor these blogs and censor them for potential security comprises. The blog reports from soldiers include combat accounts and writings by soldiers' family members and survivors. The author also organizes the book and blog sites according to topics, from battlefield encounters to personal profiles to blogs about the medical people who care for wounded soldiers. "The dispatches shine in reportorial rawness and insight," wrote Don DeNevi on the Army Times Web site. DeNevi went on to write: "The vivid sketches are important contributions to our understanding of the complex issues in Iraq and Afghanistan." Other reviewers also praised the author and blog writers for giving insights into the war and people who fight it. David Van Laar, writing in the Military Review, noted that the author's "peek into the new phenomenon of Soldiers' blogs provides a rich, visceral picture of how the current wars are affecting the Nation's warriors." Library Journal contributor Edwin B. Burgess wrote: "Emotion and immediacy provide the virtues … of this compilation."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August 1, 2006, Jay Freeman, review of The Blog of War: Front-Line Dispatches from Military Bloggers in Iraq and Afghanistan, p. 30.

Chicago Sun-Times, February 7, 2007, Andrew Herrmann, review of The Blog of War.

Dallas Observer, August 3, 2006, Jesse Hyde, "Military Bloggers Take Aim at the Mainstream Media."

Library Journal, October 1, 2006, Edwin B. Burgess, review of The Blog of War, p. 92.

Military Review, January-February, 2007, David Van Laar, review of The Blog of War, p. 117.

Washington Post, May 5, 2007, Nikki Schwab, "Military Bloggers Wary of New Policy."

ONLINE

Army Times,http://www.armytimes.com/ (June 11, 2007), Don DeNevi, review of The Blog of War.

China Daily,http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/ (October 30, 2006), "As Army Monitors Soldiers' Blues."