Did Marco Polo reach China? This richly illustrated companion volume to the public television film chronicles the remarkable two-year expedition of explorers Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell as they sought the answer to this controversial 700-year-old question. With Polo's book, The Travels of Marco Polo, as their guide, they journeyed over 25,000 miles becoming the first to retrace his entire path by land and sea without resorting to helicopters or airplanes. Surviving deadly skirmishes and capture in Afghanistan, they were the first Westerners in a generation to cross its ancient forgotten passageway to China, the Wakhan Corridor. Their camel caravan on the southern Silk Road encountered the deadly singing sands of the Taklamakan and Gobi deserts. In Sumatra, where Polo was stranded waiting for trade winds, they lived with the Mentawai tribes, whose culture has remained unchanged since the Bronze Age. They became among the first Americans granted visas to enter Iran, where Polo fulfilled an important mission for Kublai Khan. Accompanied by 200 stunning full-color photographs, the text provides a fascinating account of the lands and peoples the two hardy adventurers encountered during their perilous journey. The authors' experiences are remarkably similar to descriptions from Polo's account of his own travels and life. Laden with adventure, humor, diplomacy, history, and art, this book is compelling proof that travel is the enemy of bigotry—a truth that resonates from Marco Polo's time to our own.

"Alongside Belliveau and O'Donnell's enthusiastic narrative are marvelous full-color photos that bring the travelogue to vivid life." - Publishers Weekly

"The stunning photographs in this elegant book should please even the most casual reader, while the authors' unpretentious observations will satisfy those who want to know more about a still alien world. A travel/adventure book rather than a study of Marco Polo the man or a history of his travels, this volume deserves many readers. Warmly recommended." - Library Journal

"[A] lush, stimulating, and often thrilling chronicle. . . . The text is well written and highly informative, and it conveys a sense of wonder and excitement, enhanced by hundreds of excellent photographs that reveal the past and present diversity and richness of the cultures. . . . This excellent work and companion to the public-television film is a valuable introduction to the life and times of one of the world's great adventurers." - Booklist

"Denis Belliveau and Francis O'Donnell followed Marco Polo's route through Afghanistan and twenty other countries, traveling 33,000 miles over two years, in jeeps, trains, and rickshaws, on horse and camel. They are certainly the first to retrace Polo's steps entirely by land and sea, all this without resorting to helicopters or airplanes." - Smithsonian Magazine

"We are given stunning proof of Marco Polo's essential veracity, for the geographic realities and enduring ethnographic facts overwhelm any doubt. . . . [The authors] reflect poignantly on the timeless nature of the many Asian cultures [Marco Polo] encountered, so many threatened by endless conflict. . . . When what you experience exceeds what you can imagine, the physical and spiritual costs can be very high. Is it worth it? Get this book, go along for the wild ride, and see for yourself." - Bookpage

"If you missed the PBS special, you can still join the authors on their two-year, 25,000-mile journey that retraced the route of young Polo, his father and his uncle. The text is illuminating, the photos are revealing." - Sacramento Bee

"An extraordinary travel book. . . . This is a book well worth reading, filled as it is with adventurous stories and wonderful photographs taken by Belliveau. . . . The book is a touching record of the beauty and charity of the human spirit, a charity undeterred by want, hunger, war, and grief." - Foreword Reviews

"Stunningly evocative photography. . . . Chapters are framed with compelling and/or illuminating adventures along the way. . . . Historical/literary referencing is braided with camera-eye accounts of the Americans crossing borders illegally, getting caught in a firefight between warlords, speaking carefully with tribal chieftains, and brawling with drunken Russian soldiers in the dining room of the Hotel Alootoo in Bishtek, Kyrgyzstan. All in all, a blend of fun, learning and thrills." - Macon Telegraph

"Belliveau and O'Donnell undertook a mad quest to trace the route of the 13th-century Italian explorer step by step. . . . Belliveau's incredible photographs . . . are worth lingering over and revisiting. The text is . . . fascinating when the travelers describe the people they meet along the road." - Flagpole Magazine