The History of Famous Travels: Marco Polo

Marco Polo — a merchant, explorer, adventurer, and traveler of the 13th century — was the first and, perhaps, the most famous European to undertake a long journey through Asia, bridging the East and the West. His travels took him to the borders of the world then known to Europe and beyond, via the perilous Silk Road to the court of Kublai Khan, where he gained the trust of the powerful ruler of the Mongol Empire. Upon his return, the Venetian introduced his compatriots to the cultural riches of the East, thus beginning a centuries-long fascination with Asia. A masterful storyteller, Lawrence Bergreen has created the most authoritative account to date of Marco Polo's captivating journeys, skillfully blending the genres of scholarly research, biography, and travelogue. This incredible odyssey, encompassing all the fantastical circumstances of the life of the scion of a wealthy merchant family — from youth in Venice and travels in Asia to his return to Europe and the writing of his book, the story of which is as dramatic as the path of its author — unfolds in carefully selected and vivid details. Drawing on solid primary sources and materials from his own travels along Polo's route in China and Mongolia, Bergreen describes the life of a man who expanded the boundaries of knowledge and imagination for his contemporaries and analyzes the legends about him, separating truth from fiction, and history from myth. The book has gone through numerous reprints and has been translated into 14 languages. «Polo eventually acquired the status of a mediator in the exchange of cultural values, becoming one of those rare individuals whose extensive experience allows him to embody and convey the spirit of the era to subsequent generations. His culture was that of a traveler and merchant, incorporating numerous subcultures: Mongolian, Chinese, the culture of India, and the tribes of Asia. His perspective spanned from Armenia to Zanzibar. His take on these cultures, particularly the Chinese one, remained the main source of information about them for Europeans until the 19th century. The world that Marco Polo explored has long passed into history, but some of its features are remarkably modern.» (Lawrence Bergreen)
This book is published in Russian in two series titled «Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu» (the «Historical Interest» series) and «The History of Famous Travels: Marco Polo» (the «Persona» series).