A Harvard graduate, Bergreen worked in journalism, academia and broadcasting before publishing his first biography, James Agee: A Life, which was a New York Times "Notable Book" for 1984. His 1990 biography, Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, won the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award and was also a New York Times "Notable Book".

In 1994, Simon & Schuster published Bergreen's Capone: The Man and the Era. The book was translated into German, Japanese and Czech and was optioned by Miramax. Bantam Doubleday Dell published Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life in 1997, which appeared on the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Publishers Weekly lists of "Best Books of 1997".

In 2000 Bergreen published Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth, a narrative of NASA's exploration of Mars. His next work, the bestselling Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, (HarperCollins, 2003) became a New York Times "Notable Book" and is in its 20th printing. The New York Times Book Review wrote, “Prodigious research, sure-footed prose and vivid depictions make for a thoroughly satisfying account ... wondrous detail, a first-rate historical page turner.” The book has sold over 140,000 copies and is available in over 12 countries. Bergreen's latest biography, Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu, (Knopf, 2007) is currently being developed into a feature film starring Matt Damon. Simon Winchester, author of The Map That Changed the World, noted, “At last! Marco Polo comes to life! Laurence Bergreen, perhaps America's liveliest biographer, has created a triumph of fascinations, a classic portrait that now surely can never be bettered.”

Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu

• Outside Magazine's "Greatest Adventure Bios Ever Written" — Ranked #3, November 2009
• Book-of-the-Month Club Featured Selection November 2007
• Military Book Club Featured Selection
• History Book Club Featured Selection
• Conde Nast Traveler “New Classic” Travel Read, September 2007
• Booklist Top 10 Biographies of 2007

Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe

• Barnes & Noble Bestseller
• New York Times “ Notable Book”, 2004
• Nominated for an “Audie” award for best nonfiction book recording (BBC), 2005

Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth

• Barnesandnoble.com “Best Science & Nature Books 2000”
• Optioned by Grand Productions, Inc. (Gary Randall) as a TNT Miniseries

Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life

• Publishers Weekly “Best Books of 1997”
• Booklist “Editor’s Choice 1997”
• San Francisco Chronicle “Best Books of 1997”
• USA Today “Best Books of 1997”

Capone: The Man and the Era

• N.Y. Times “Notable Books of 1994”

As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin

• New York Times Notable Book of 1990
• ASCAP-Deems Taylor Award for Excellence in Music Journalism
• Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award, First Place