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Laurence Bergreen

Author profile

born

February 04, 1950

gender

male

website

http://www.laurencebergreen.com/

genre

History, Biographies & Memoirs

About this author

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Laurence Bergreen is an award-winning biographer, historian, and chronicler of exploration. His books have been translated into over 20 languages worldwide. In October 2007, Alfred A. Knopf published Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu, a groundbreaking biography of the iconic traveler. Warner Brothers is developing a feature film based on this book starring Matt Damon and written by William Monahan, who won an Oscar for “The Departed.”

His previous work, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, was published to international acclaim by William Morrow/HarperCollins in October 2003. A New York Times “Notable Book” for 2003, it is also in development as a motion picture and is now in its tenth printing.

I...more Laurence Bergreen is an award-winning biographer, historian, and chronicler of exploration. His books have been translated into over 20 languages worldwide. In October 2007, Alfred A. Knopf published Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu, a groundbreaking biography of the iconic traveler. Warner Brothers is developing a feature film based on this book starring Matt Damon and written by William Monahan, who won an Oscar for “The Departed.”

His previous work, Over the Edge of the World: Magellan’s Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe, was published to international acclaim by William Morrow/HarperCollins in October 2003. A New York Times “Notable Book” for 2003, it is also in development as a motion picture and is now in its tenth printing.

In addition, Bergreen is the author of Voyage to Mars: NASA’s Search for Life Beyond Earth, a narrative of NASA’s exploration of Mars, published in November 2000 by Penguin Putnam. Dramatic rights were acquired by TNT.

In 1997, Bantam Doubleday Dell published Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life, a comprehensive biography drawing on unpublished manuscripts and exclusive interviews with Armstrong colleagues and friends. It appeared on many “Best Books of 1997” lists, including those of the San Francisco Chronicle, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and Publishers Weekly, and has been published in Germany, Finland, and Great Britain. In 1994, Simon & Schuster published his Capone: The Man and the Era. A Book-of-the-Month Club selection, it has been published in numerous foreign languages, was optioned by Miramax, and was a New York Times “Notable Book.”

His biography, As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin, appeared in 1990. This book won the Ralph J. Gleason Music Book Award and the ASCAP-Deems Taylor award and received front-page reviews in major American and British newspapers and appeared on bestseller lists; it was also a New York Times “Notable Book” for 1990. His previous biography, James Agee: A Life, was also critically acclaimed and was a New York Times “Notable Book” for 1984. His first book was Look Now, Pay Later: The Rise of Network Broadcasting, published by Doubleday in 1980.

He has written for many national publications including Esquire, Newsweek, TV Guide, Details, Prologue, The Chicago Tribune, and Military History Quarterly. He has taught at the New School for Social Research and served as Assistant to the President of the Museum of Television and Radio in New York. In 1995, he served as a judge for the National Book Awards and in 1991 as a judge for the PEN/Albrand Nonfiction Award. A frequent lecturer at major universities and symposiums, he also serves as a Featured Historian for the History Channel.

Mr. Bergreen graduated from Harvard University in 1972. He is a member of PEN American Center, The Explorers Club, the Authors Guild, and the board of the New York Society Library. He lives in New York City and is represented by Suzanne Gluck of the William Morris Agency.
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Books by Laurence Bergreen

Average rating: 3.92 · 2,569 ratings · 451 reviews · 13 distinct works

	Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe 4.03 avg rating — 1,909 ratings — published 2003 — 18 editions	My rating:
	Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu 3.46 avg rating — 375 ratings — published 2007 — 13 editions	My rating:
	Capone: The Man and the Era 3.86 avg rating — 101 ratings — published 1994 — 3 editions	My rating:
	Columbus: The Four Voyages 3.67 avg rating — 85 ratings — published 2011 — 4 editions	My rating:
	Louis Armstrong: An Extravagant Life 4.08 avg rating — 64 ratings — 5 editions	My rating:
	As Thousands Cheer: The Life of Irving Berlin 4.22 avg rating — 18 ratings — published 1990 — 4 editions	My rating:
	James Agee: A Life 3.35 avg rating — 17 ratings — published 1984 — 2 editions	My rating:
	Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504 4.00 avg rating — 2 ratings — expected publication 2012	My rating:
	Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth by Lawrence Bergreen, Laurence Bergreen 3.57 avg rating — 7 ratings — published 2000 — 5 editions	My rating:
	Over the Edge of the World 0.00 avg rating — 0 ratings — published 2004	My rating:

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The History Book ...: EXPLORERS AND EXPLORATION	59	79	Apr 30, 2012 07:49am
The History Book ...: RECENTLY ACQUIRED BOOKS	374	207	May 19, 2012 11:13am
The History Book ...: * WHAT IS EVERYBODY READING NOW?	1575	1091	May 26, 2012 08:10am

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