In the Footsteps of Marco Polo
by: Denis Belliveau & Francis O'Donnell
Published by: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
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Reviewed by Paul Markowitz
Seven hundred years ago, one of the most daring, spectacular and momentous chapters in world history concluded with the return of Marco Polo from his travels to the Far East. Since that time a few key questions have emerged regarding Polo’s travels. Did he actually reach China and did he accurately describe what he experienced in his 17-year-long sojourn?
Trying to verify these long unanswered propositions, the authors attempted over a two-year period to retrace the steps of Marco Polo. In doing so, they approximated the 25,000-mile trip as set down in his journals while eschewing most modern means of transportation, specifically air flight.
In this beautifully photographed volume, these two intrepid adventurers with limited experience, knowledge, and resources, brave travel through some of the most inhospitable places on earth while attempting this fearless adventure.
The text is infused with selections from Polo’s actual journals. Many indicate that in some areas of the world little has changed in the past 700 years, and in the process, all but verifying the validity of the original text.
Their overland route from Venice to China and back required the dauntless authors to travel through many lands including Mongolia, India, Tibet, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Tajikistan. In following Polo’s overland route they use the Wakkan Corridor in Afghanistan, an ancient and forgotten passageway to China. They also pass underneath the towering Pamir Mountains of Central Asia and skirt the sands of the voluminous Taklamakan and Gobi Deserts of west China.
By insisting on an accurate recreation of Polo’s trip along the old “Silk Road,” the authors were required to masquerade as Pakistanis as they made their way through warring militias in embattled Afghanistan, become one of the very first Americans to gain a visa and access to Iran since the revolution, and dodge official Chinese tourist and government officers once they finally reached the “Middle Kingdom.”
In this companion volume to the public television series that will be televised in 2009, the authors have made a valiant attempt to prove the proverbial admonition, “Travel is the enemy of bigotry.”
Armchair Interviews says: Filled with amazing experiences, this book will fascinate and educate you.
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