A good recapitulation, exposition, and explanation of Marco Polo, the Pax Mongolica, and Polo's book. Interesting, resting on good scholarship, nice pictures, and more accessible than Rustichello's/Polo's late medieval prose. ( )

This book was interesting. As I got into this audiobook, I began to want to read the original - the one "written" by Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa. That urge didn't last too long. The epilog section of this make it clear to me that this book is a much better choice. The original was written in bad French, no original manuscript survives, and the order of events is sometimes confused. There are 150 manuscripts that survive - no two are alike. Therefore, I am pleased to have "read" this one.

Marco Polo describes many unusual sexual practices. One that amazed me was that the people didn't resent the huge numbers of young ladies being shuttled off to the capital for the pleasure of Kublai Kahn. As I recall, it was 100 per day that were gathered in from the empire to the capital. The ones that didn't make it through the selection process were parceled out to his minions.

He describes the practice of marrying dead children. That implies that they believed in life after death, and that they believed that ordinances need to be done here on Earth for the marriage to be valid in the heavens. The marriage of dead children included all the rites, formality, and expense of a usual marriage, even including the paying of a dowery.

This book gave me a much greater appreciation for several things:
- The great diversity of various cultures. Some cultures were exceedingly hospitably, and others quite predatory.
- The great danger of travel during most of the world's history. (That persists in some parts of the world even today).
- The appetites of human nature for things such as sexual gratification, power, and money are 'never satisfied.' They were just as avaricious in the 13th century as any century before or since. Kublai Kahn was at least twice duped by conniving ministers. The first time lasted for 30 years. After that, he caught on much quicker. In his later years, Kublai Kahn had the largest empire on earth, but still tried to extend it to places so remote that they had never heard of him.
- Marco Polo's tales were not accecpted as true in his hometown of Venice. ("And they were offended in him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house." Matthew 13:57)
- In the 20th century comparisons were (finally) done to check the validity of Marco Polo's reports and found them to be largely accurate. Why did it take so long to get around to it?
- The author of this book, Laurence Bergreen, often attributed the fictional parts to Rustichello's literary style.

I was surprised that in his old age, Marco Polo became litigious.

Delightful, and it made me want to learn more. I recommend this edition as one that weaves a coherent narrative with additional material beyond that found in Travels. ( )

Marco Polo (1254 - 1324) has become the embodiment of East-West relations with China. To any foreigner with ties to China, Polo looms large. Both in Venice, where Polo was born and where he died, and Beijing, where he lived for some time, there are historical relics, in Venice his home known as 'il corte del milione' and the Marco Polo bridge in the western suburbs of Beijing (Lugouqiao).

Marco Polo was a contemporary of Dante Alighieri, and lived nearly a hundred years before Geoffrey Chaucer. Few people read works from the Middle Ages, as both the language and mind set of people of those times are difficult to comprehend. Polo's description of the world, or his travels have often been characterized as a phantasy, fiction rather than fact. However, an increasing amount of scholarship, including contemporary Persian and Chinese sources indicate that the Polos did actually reside in the Chinese empire, suggesting that Polo's travelogue is largely true.

Laurence Bergreen's book is not an edition of Marco Polo's Travels. Marco Polo. From Venice to Xanadu is more of a concordant history book. As the author explains in various places, Polo's book seems to be based on a loose-leaved manuscript that has fallen down the stairs and been recollected: there is no logical, historical progress to the narrative. Marco Polo claims to have been an emissary to Kublai Kahn, the then-ruler of China. The travels suggest that he made several prolonged stays in Chinese cities other than Beijing, but it isn't clear whether he would have returned to the capital after each mission or reported to the Kahn while travelling. In this sense, Bergreen's assumption that Polo's stay in China can be charted as a linear progress rather than a back and forth to the capital may constitute a violation of the historical accuracy of Polo's work. However, it does considerably clarify Polo's trajectory and create a clear and logical framework for the reader.

The opening chapters of Bergreen's book shine with a brilliant description of the Venetian Republic in its full splendour. In 14 chapters, Bergreen describes all we know about Marco Polo, all the people who surrounded him, both literally and historically, and all facts of history and geography that are relevant to the various stages of Polo's travels from Venice to China, and on the way back via India, returning to Venice. Bergreen's book bring together an impressive amount of scholarship, and he does not fail to point out contention and disagreement. Nonetheless, Bergreen is a strong proponent of the essential veracity of Polo's travelogue, and in Marco Polo. From Venice to Xanadu tries to tell us what Polo's cannot make sufficiently clear. In that sense, Bergreen's book is a great tribute to Marco Polo.

The final chapters of Marco Polo. From Venice to Xanadu are dedicated to the reception of Marco Polo's Travels, including Coleridge's famous lines. In these chapters Bergreen points out the problematic textual history of Polo's travels, authorship, language and manuscript versions. In fact, the end notes of Bergreen's book make a very interesting reading, and can be read as a succinct academic summary of the book. However, it is obvious that Bergreen is no sinologist of medievalist, and his book which is largely free from references and footnotes is intended for general readership.

Marco Polo. From Venice to Xanadu is a great book that (re-) tells a fascinating story. It is a pity that Chinese scholars are mainly wary of any research beyond anything purely Chinese. In fact, the legacy of Genghis Kahn as a conquerer of China is not without controversy in the People's Republic, while Chinese scholars do not really see Marco Polo as a truly researchable object within the body of Chinese history or Chinese studies. However, a thorough study of Chinese sources might reveal and make a major contribution to the understanding and significance of Marco Polo as a link between the western world and China. ( )

Since there are 2,000 reviews of this book already, there's no need to summarise the book but I'll just add my 'thumbs up' to a very entertaining and informative work. The combination of long quotes from Marco Polo accompanied by explanations and annotations by author Bergreen worked very well for me--I will confess that I found reading the Travels of Marco Polo in the original tedious and at times very slow going, but Bergreen has selected the most interesting sections without omitting the heart of the original. AND although I've been reading Asian history for decades, I learned a couple of new things that I hadn't run across before (for example, that the origin of the word 'caravan' is Persian karvan, which means 'company'...and this although I've personally travelled the Kashgar-Xi'an section across the Taklamakan Desert several times.)

Everyone should read the tales of Marco Polo; I would heartily recommend this book to anyone age 15 and up. It's going on my shopping list for nieces & nephews.... ( )

Fascinating read that follows Marco Polo's _Travels_ through Asia - enlightening us as to what was true and what he was making up (surprisingly little). Gives us some historical background and expands on Polo's own book. Somehow Bergreen manages to glean a balanced appraisal of the many versions of Polo's tale. ( )

There's remarkably little to this book. LB was faced with the fact that there's not a great deal of material about MP except for his book. But we have 119 versions of that manuscript, as it was a best seller in his time. But it predates printing, and medieval scribes used the original manuscript was a mine of information as suited the client requesting a copy of the book. They seem to have edited the manuscript to suit the means and curiosity of the client. LB doesn't seem to want to include material from other sources dealing with tangential aspects of the time. Since he desired to write a thick book, he just stuck in factoids that a modern audience may like. I would say the book needs a final editing session, and then addition of stuff requiring more research than was done here. ( )

This book follows Marco Polo’s life from birth to death. We all know of his famed opus Travels, recounting his travels to China, South East Asia and India. He left with his father and uncle at the age of 17 in 1271. They returned 24 years later. What is fact and what is fiction of his stories, written in a Genoese prison with the collaboration of the romance writer and notary Rustichello of Pisa? This book tells of the events told in those stories and is a careful study in an attempt to distinguish between fact and fiction. For centuries that related seemed all too fanciful to be true, but has been proven to be true. The original manuscript, which was written in bad French and of which there are numerous variants and missing sections, is another impediment in discovering what is true and what is imaginary. The Mongol Empire and Kublai Khan and its demise are all covered in this book in minute detail. How did they get home, and what happened afterwards? Why was Marco imprisoned? Had Marco never been imprisoned it is doubtful that his tales would remain today. This is all interestingly covered, except that sometimes there are really too many details. There are many, many quotes from the original manuscripts that make the reading disjointed and dry. There are pretty pictures, notes and an index.

To appreciate this book you must be interested in learning not only about Marco Polo but also the Mongol Empire.

Completed June 12, 2013 ( )

May I be like the young Marco Polo, openminded and willing to learn and try as well as like the young Kubla Khan, (relatively) tolerant and supportive. Well researched and also just plain interesting and informative ( )

Approximately 11/13's of this book is an annotated retelling of Il Milione. The concluding chapters, and especially the epilogue, cover the final years (decades) of Marco's life, which was new material, at least to me. ( )

I've been interested in Marco Polo for years (since learning about him in elementary school) so I snapped this book up. It uses Polo's own book about his travels (which appears in dozens of forms, for reasons explained in this book) as well as other more or less contemporary works and the author's own research to describe Polo's journeys, the people and environments he met along the way, and especially the wonders of the court of Kublai Khan. It was quite readable, although some descriptions were a little too lengthy and there was some repetition.

This is a fascinating review of the travels of Marco Polo, which is distilled from his actual Travels as transcribed during his incarceration in Genoa following his epochal return to Venice from his travels. He had assumed the position of captain of a warship in the nacy of Venice in its periodic war with Genoa for control of the trade routes.

The narrative of the story reads as a fascinating story of adventure in cultural diversity, geography, the court of Kubla Kahn, and the charming sexuality of various regions of the Mongol controlled Middle East and East. The young adventurer had a grand time, traveling with his father and uncle as merchants for their business, the Polo Company.

We all tend to think of ourselves as living in a modern age. Yet, as one reads this evolutionary story, it is perfectly apparent that nothing has really changed in the world except the passage of time. We still have all the same hassles, domestic economic conditions, international trade, conflict along the trade lines, war, domestic strife within the family, ad mauseum.

Marco Polo is not a history, nor is it a travelogue. Rather, it is a fascinating, well told adventure, which is brought into easily read context by Mr. Bergreen. Each of us experiences the journey of our lifetime. It is interesting to read about the remarkable journey of Marco Polo, and to think through the questions that it frames for our own lives.

For example, what must it have been like for Marco to return to the quaint Venice after the genuinely unique experiences he had on his 17 year journey to places where white men had apparently not been, or not been in recorded tomes? How would you feel if this had been you?

Marco’s travels commenced at the culmination of the Christian defeat in the last Crusade, as well as the departure of the Papacy to Avignon, France seeking to find a more hospitable environment. There was chaos in the Chistian world, in which Islam had taken an upper hand, even as the Mongols were stretching across Indochina and China.

From the standpoint of a historian or social commentator, there are many parallels to the present time.

From the standpoint of a thriller writer, it also provides rich thesaurus of relationships and challenges to be adapted for the backgrounds of international thrillers.

A salute and tip of the hat for a great read and thought-provoking ideas for adventures and conflicts that could be woven into the fabric of a new story. ( )

I have always enjoyed Laurence Bergreen's biographies. He brought to his books on Al Capone and Louis Armstrong his considerable writing ability and a reporter's ability to find a story beneath the story. In his book on Capone, one such story was the parallel tale of Capone's brother, who changed his name and became a Prohibition agent in Nebraska.

With Marco Polo, however, Bergreen has to rely mainly on a single source of information -- the explorer's own account of his adventures. Bergreen cannot do independent research into Marco Polo's life, because there are no newspaper files or people to interview. The biography, therefore, lacks a bit of the revelatory spark that makes his biographies of more contemporary people so interesting.

What Bergreen does in the main is take the Travels of Marco Polo and walk us through it chronologically, with some asides about the politics, history and society in Asia at the time. On the one hand, one might object that we may as well read an annotated edition of the real thing to get this information. On the other, Bergreen is a far more accessible writer than Marco Polo or his editors, and therefore this book is of great value to a general reader who has little interest in reading medieval prose.

Bergreen does have one bad habit, shared by legions of biographers -- he takes a small, perhaps insignificant or doubtful bit of information and bases a central argument about his subject's life on it. In this case, Bergreen offers conjecture that Marco Polo became addicted to opium when he was treated for an illness, and this addiction caused a change in his personality after his return to Venice. The author put forth a similar theory about Capone, arguing that various events in his life were influenced by the onset of syphilis. While in Capone's case there was clinical evidence of his condition later in life, in Marco Polo's case the evidence for opium addiction is thin at best. Bergreen would have served his readers better to omit wild speculations, as it detracts from his credibility on other matters.

With that caveat, however, this is a fine introduction to the life of an important figure in world history. ( )

Full review: ( http://bachlab.balbach.net/coolread4.html#marcopolo ) in summary: Reconstruction of Marco Polo's 'Travels' with latest academic insights. ( )

2019 (link goes to a LibraryThing page with the review)
https://www.librarything.com/topic/301619#6772201 ( )