Marco Polo: A Photographer's Journey
Michael Yamashita's latest book, a 504-page photographic journey retracing the footsteps of Marco Polo, is his own account of the two years he spent following the great 13th-century explorer's route from Italy to China and back, a trip that took him across the deserts and mountains of Iraq and Iran, into the war zone in Afghanistan, across the Pamir mountains and along the rim of the vast Taklimakan desert, and on to Shangdu, immortalized in Coleridge's poem "Xanadu", returning by way of Sumatra, Sri Lanka and southern India. Introductions to each chapter, written by the noted Italian scholar, Gianni Guadalupi, provide historical context. Also included are detailed maps showing the routes that both Polo and Yamashita traveled.
The second edition of the book, will be published by Rizzoli, and be available in the United States, Fall 2004.
Read "Q & A with Michael Yamashita". More "Marco Polo" photographs can be found at michaelyamashita.com.
