Bookverdict.com

Gr 5-9 In an age when critics obsess about the blurred line between fact and fiction, Freedman prepares readers for ambiguity right from the contents page. Nothing But the Truth is both the title of his first chapter and a phrase pulled from Polos book, "The Description of the World". Apparently the Venetians own family doubted the veracity of his version of the 24-year, 6500-mile journey to and sojourn in Kublai Khans court and begged him to recant on his deathbed. The chapter Did Marco Polo Go to China? presents current scholarship challenging the noblemans ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More

This handsome volume—with faux-aged paper, archival prints, original art reminiscent of the Middle Ages, and gold leaf decorating the jacket—resembles a fourteenth-century manuscript, an appropriate aesthetic for a book about Marco Polo. Freedman sets his focus by posing two questions: "Did he really travel to China and beyond, as he claimed? Or was he, in fact, 'the man of a million lies'?" Freedman p...Log In or Sign Up to Read More