As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history. In this masterly work, Marco Polo's incredible odyssey-along the Silk Road and through all the fantastic circumstances ...
Read More
As the most celebrated European to explore Asia, Marco Polo was the original global traveler and the earliest bridge between East and West. A universal icon of adventure and discovery, he has inspired six centuries of popular fascination and spurious mythology. Now, from acclaimed author Laurence Bergreen, comes the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most enchanting figures in world history. In this masterly work, Marco Polo's incredible odyssey-along the Silk Road and through all the fantastic circumstances of his life-is chronicled in sumptuous and illuminating detail. Drawing on original sources in more than half a dozen languages, and his own travels along Polo's route in China and Mongolia, Bergreen explores the lingering controversies surrounding Polo's legend, settling age-old questions and testing others for significance. Synthesizing history, biography, and travelogue, this is a timely chronicle of a man who extended the boundaries of human knowledge and imagination. Destined to be the definitive account of its subject for decades to come, Marco Polo takes us on a journey to the limits of history-and beyond.
Read Less
Add this copy of Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu to cart. $59.11, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2000 by Books on Tape.
Anyone who has read The Travels of Marco Polo and wondered what is fact and what is fantasy should enjoy reading Laurence Bergreen's lucid and entertaining biography of the 13th-century Venetian traveller. Polo comes across as a man full of himself. But then, one knows that already, if one has read The Travels of Marco Polo. In the prologue, one reads:
"It must be known, then, that from the creation of Adam to the present day, no man, wherher Pagan, or Saracen, or Christian, ot other, of whatever progeny or eeneration he may have been, ever saw or inquired into so many and such great things as Marco Polo above mentioned."
Nevertheless, Polo also emerges as an endearing person in this book, which, I think is far more interesting than some of the other works about him which I have seen.
Polo was way ahead of his times in many respects. Amongst other things, he took a keen interest in the sexual habits of the people wherever he found himself on his travels. This biography is a reminder of Polo's ability to see things which often elude the attention of visitors to distant lands. His memoirs made him more famous than his father Niccolo and his uncle Maffeo. When the brothers took Marco with them to China, they could never have imagined the welcome the younger Polo would receive at Kublai Khan's court. But I do think that the two senior Polos deserve more recognition than they generally get, and that Marco's memoirs have eclipsed their own achievements. Without them, Marco would probably never have made it to China or the East.
Bergreen's book is a delightful, scholarly and thought-provoking biographical appraisal of Marco Polo's life, work and achievements. He may have been an extraordinary braggart, but he was also an extraordinary envoy, for Venice and later for the Great Khan, as he always calls Kublai in his travelogue (William Marsden translation). I would recommend this book to all his fans and to everyone who has enjoyed reading The Travels of Marco Polo.
oldguy
Feb 19, 2009
great read
A terrific story about life in Europe and Asia during the 13th century. A well written and easy to enjoy volume filling in some of the blanks I had not known in history. This rendering of life under Kublai Kahn differs greatly from what I was taught throughout my schooling. The reader is offered vivid insights into early Chinese / Mongol life. I highly reccomend this read to anyone who enjoys well written history reported as accurately as possible.
