Mark Feeney was born on July 28, 1957. Raised in Reading, Massachusetts, he graduated from Harvard College in June 1979 with a magna cum laude degree in History and Literature.

He started as a researcher in The Boston Globe's library in October 1979. In February 1980, he began writing for the paper's book review section. In December 1981 he became acting assistant book editor, receiving the full title in June 1983. He was promoted to book editor in February 1985. In February 1991 he became editor of The Globe's Sunday section of analysis and commentary, Focus. In September 1993 he began a six-month in-house sabbatical as a staff writer for The Boston Globe Magazine, returning to Focus in March 1994. During 1996 and part of 1997, he was on leave from the paper, working on a book about Richard Nixon and popular culture. That book, Nixon at the Movies (University of Chicago Press), was published in 2004. Currently a writer and editor with The Globe's Arts section, Feeney has been a lecturer in American Studies at Brandeis University since 2004. In spring 2007, he was Robbins Professor of Writing at Princeton University. His work has appeared in The New Republic, Commonweal, the Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Harper's, The American Scholar, The New York Observer, and The Washington Monthly.

A past vice president for publications of the National Book Critics Circle, he was a finalist for the 1994 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for "Wing tips on the beach," an essay about Richard Nixon's life and career on the occasion of the former president's eightieth birthday.

He lives with his wife and their son in Cambridge, Massachusetts.