Marco Polo

Life & Times

by Jonathan Clements

Accessible and affordable illustrated biography about a eternally fascinating historical figure

178 pages, Paperback

Published July 1, 2007

About the author

Jonathan Clements is an author, translator, biographer and scriptwriter. His non-fiction works include biographies of Confucius, Marco Polo, Mao Zedong, Koxinga and Qin Shihuangdi. He also writes for NEO magazine and is the co-author of encyclopedias of anime and Japanese television dramas.

Reviews

[Stuart Hill · Rating 3 out of 5]

A relatively short book, this doesn't take too long to read. Clements attemps to unravel fact from fiction to determine where exactly Polo did travel to in the East. It effectively utilises evidence from other authors to support the assertions made in The Travels, and where the information was inaccurate a good explanation is given for this.

The various editions of The Travels are covered and the author often explains which parts of the book seem to be drawn from Polo's direct experience, which are stories that he must have heard from others and which are interpolations introduced by Rustichello, who was effectively a co-author with Polo. The book also scotches a few myths regarding Polo as well.

An enjoyable and informative read, I would recommend this to anyone who would like to know more about Marco Polo and it is a useful accompaniment to The Travels.