Born in Chicago, he studied at the Central Institute of Foreign Nationalities in Beijing, and at the Institut D'Etudes Politiques in Paris. He worked at the Centro Camuno di Studi Preistorici, an archaeological institute in the Italian Alps. He obtained a BA in Political Studies from Principia College.

Burr lived in Japan for a year, teaching English, and obtained an MA in International Economics and Japan Studies from the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS/Johns Hopkins). He has worked for the Tokyo Broadcasting System.

In 1987 he reported from Manila on the Philippines and South East Asia for the Christian Science Monitor. His writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, California Lawyer, The Washington Monthly, and the Atlantic Monthly. He now works in Washington, DC.