Publisher's Synopsis
Noah Brooks was an American journalist and editor who worked for newspapers and authored a biography of Abraham Lincoln that is now considered an indispensable source of information on the Lincoln White House. He also published a Story of the Lewis and Clark Expedition and this Story of Marco Polo, written originally for young readers. Marco Polo's travels are recorded in Livres des merveilles du monde (Book of the Marvels of the World) also known as The Travels of Marco Polo. The books also known by several other titles (including Il Milione in Italian) is a travelogue written down by Rustichello da Pisa from stories told by Marco Polo that describe his travels through Asia and his experiences at the court of Kublai Khan. The book was originally written in Old French. Probably its best known translation into English is that of the Yule-Cordier edition, which, in its complete unabridged form can be a somewhat hard reading because of its copious notes, addenda, and asides. Although Brooks's intent may have been to write the story of Marco Polo in a manner more accessible to young readers, he has managed to produce a version of the Travels that is equally appealing to readers of any age interested in getting to know the story without the burden of all the accessories of the Yule-Cordier edition. The style, narration and commentary intermixed with long passages from Polo's diary, make for a very satisfying reading of a story that has fascinated and captured the imagination of so many. Stories of Genghis Khan, Kublai Khan, and Marco Polo inspired several movies of American, Japanese, and Russian production, and, most recently, a TV series simply called Marco Polo, now in its second season.
