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elentarri's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
medium-paced
4.0
Marco Polo was only seventeen when he accompanies his father and uncle on their second journey to Asia in 1271. Bergreen follows Marco Polo on his journey from Venice, through the Middle East (Persia and what is now Afghanistan), over the Pamirs, to the Central Asian Steppes, where he is introduced to Kublai Khan, and then along the Silk Roads to China, other regions in South East Asia/Indian subcontinent as an emissary, intelligence operative, and tax collector of the Khan. Eventually, and in a round-about fashion, the Polo trio were permitted to go home to Venice, where they had difficulty in convincing the remaining family members that they were the long absent merchants who had departed almost 25 years earlier (foreign garb and rusty Italian will do that, apparently). Here, Marco Polo gets involved in the war with Genoa, ends up languishing in prison with a fellow inmate (Rustichello of Pisa), who just so happened to be an Italian romance writer. Prison being pretty boring, Rustichello and Polo opted to collaborate in transferring Polo's travel tales and reminiscences onto parchment (with some embellishments from Rustichello, and in butchered French of all languages!).
No original version of the 'Travels of Marco Polo' exist, but there are over a hundred incomplete, differing versions (Marco Polo continued telling his stories and these were included in subsequent copies), with additional embellishments from the copyists. However, Marco Polo still managed to preserve a snap shot of the zenith of the Mongolian Empire of Kublai Khan; its fierce leaders, military campaigns, court shenanigans, great cities, alluring women, and exotic customs. After Kublai Khan's death the Empire fragmented and travel through the former Empire became more hazardous.
Bergreen doesn't just tell Marco Polo's travel stories, he also examines various original sources, provides context and background for the travel accounts and makes his own journey across Asia, to determine which parts of 'The Travels' is composed of eye-witness or word-of-mouth stories, and which are fabrications. This is a combination of biography, history and travelogue that tends to plod a bit at times (there are only so many descriptions of Great Cities that I can tolerate), but Bergreen has still provided an accessible and chronological narrative of Marco Polo's fascinating journey to the then little known regions of Asia.
P.S.: More maps would have been useful.
No original version of the 'Travels of Marco Polo' exist, but there are over a hundred incomplete, differing versions (Marco Polo continued telling his stories and these were included in subsequent copies), with additional embellishments from the copyists. However, Marco Polo still managed to preserve a snap shot of the zenith of the Mongolian Empire of Kublai Khan; its fierce leaders, military campaigns, court shenanigans, great cities, alluring women, and exotic customs. After Kublai Khan's death the Empire fragmented and travel through the former Empire became more hazardous.
Bergreen doesn't just tell Marco Polo's travel stories, he also examines various original sources, provides context and background for the travel accounts and makes his own journey across Asia, to determine which parts of 'The Travels' is composed of eye-witness or word-of-mouth stories, and which are fabrications. This is a combination of biography, history and travelogue that tends to plod a bit at times (there are only so many descriptions of Great Cities that I can tolerate), but Bergreen has still provided an accessible and chronological narrative of Marco Polo's fascinating journey to the then little known regions of Asia.
P.S.: More maps would have been useful.
laurenjoy's review against another edition
4.0
This book was super interesting and had lots of information on Marco Polo that I had never heard before. About 4/5ths of the way through it becomes clear that the book could have used some closer editing as it becomes a bit repetitive and gets a little thick when lauding praise. All in all- still a good book and full of rich tidbits!
lagarrett's review against another edition
4.0
Enjoyed this book - learned a number of things. Didn't realize that Marco Polo's uncle and father had made a previous journey to the east, or that Beijing was the Mongol capitol at that time. Interesting discussion of how the book came to be written. After 24 years traveling an living in a different culture, Marco Polo is bored on his return to Venice and ends up joining the war against Genoa, where he is captured. In prison he narrated his story to a notary (who had written novels). It's written in French (not his first language) and embroidered by both of them. Each copy is hand written, sometime translated, possibly edited later by Marco Polo. There are several hundred copies, all different! Fascinating.
ameyawarde's review against another edition
5.0
Excellent book that goes through Marco Polo's life and travels and brings in what is known from other sources to corraborate certain bits or to point out what is likely Robocellis (I listened to this one, idk how to spell anything) fanciful elaboration (he was a romance writer, afterall). Before this book I was under the impression that Polo had made most of it up (based on what i've heard about him, not from his writings themselves) but this book makes a great case that actually, the falsifications and elaborations were definitely in the minority!
haagedoorn's review against another edition
adventurous
informative
slow-paced
2.25
Not bad, but it basically regurgitates Marco Polo's own book. It does not offer conflicting or complementary sources, primary or secondary, to discuss what Marco Polo actually states. The author is a total fanboy and it shows.
bakoind's review against another edition
3.0
This well-written book describes a subject that I knew little about, Marco Polo and the Mongolian empire. Thought-provoking, though the theme of comparative religion could be a bit better. The author seems to approach it from a position of a scholarly interest in Christianity anyway that doesn’t quite grasp what Christianity is.
cactussambal's review against another edition
5.0
After watching the Marco Polo series on Netflix, I became interested in the character of Marco Polo. I didn't realize how amazing his journeys were, and how influential. This book is the perfect introduction to the story of this intrepid wanderer.