MARCO POLO From Venice to Xanadu

Laurence Bergreen separates the myth from the man as he explores the life of the thirteenth-century explorer Marco Polo--the original global traveler. Using original sources and his own travels along Marco Polo's route, Bergreen weaves a tapestry of history, biography, travelogue, and myth. (His use of sources is complicated by the fact that the explorer wrote multiple versions of his travels and his contemporaries viewed him as a teller of tales.) Paul Boehmer narrates the story with the deliberate, carefully paced delivery of a history professor. His style is dry, but when Nicolo Polo hands his 17-year-old son over to the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, the story hits its stride. Marco was a keen observer who delighted in sharing tales of his exotic adventures. N.E.M. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: APR/ MAY 08]