Marco Polo - Laurence Bergreen [201]
The ancient Mongolian capital of Karakorum, founded by Genghis Khan as a symbol of national unity, is now a ruin, a faint reminder of the splendor that once animated his rule. One of the few surviving objects from the height of the Mongol Empire is a large granite tortoise, for which a distant mountain is named. It stands alone on a field, awaiting a more fitting resting place. Of Kublai Khan’s magnificent Xanadu, little survives beyond a few evocative mounds rising from a grassy plain, and whispers of lost grandeur carried on the wind.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THROUGHOUT MY TRAVELS in search of Marco Polo, many people helped to make this book a reality.
At Alfred A. Knopf, I have been privileged to enjoy the support of Sonny Mehta, Ashbel Green, and Carol Janeway, all of whom brought constant enthusiasm and generous editorial wisdom to my labors; I am grateful for the inspiration of these legendary individuals. In addition, I wish to extend my appreciation to Sara Sherbill and Katherine Hourigan.
Suzanne Gluck, my literary agent at William Morris, has been a source of steadfast belief and refreshing candor from the moment of this project’s inception; it is always a pleasure to learn from her keen insights. I am also indebted to her able assistants, including Christine Price, Erin Malone, and Georgia Cool.
At the New York Society Library, I wish to thank Mark Piel for his help with this and my previous books, and Arevig Caprielian, Rare Books Librarian. I also wish to thank the John Carter Brown Library in Providence, Rhode Island, and especially librarian Richard Ring for his help; and the Thomas J. Watson Library of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. I wish to extend particular appreciation to the Columbia University Libraries, including Butler Library, the Barnard College Library, and the C. V. Starr East Asian Library, whose collections I often consulted while researching this book. My friend of more than thirty years, Patrick Ryan, S. J., generously agreed to review the manuscript, especially concerning matters relating to Church history, and I am grateful for his scholarly clarification.
In addition, I wish to express my appreciation to Ludwig W. Adamec, for his expertise on Afghanistan; Caroline Alexander; Susan Beningson; Sheila Callahan; Kimball Chen; Kristina Cordero, who assisted with translations; Daniel Dolgin, whom I can never thank enough yet must go on thanking because there is no alternative in light of his generosity of spirit and intellect; Dr. James B. Garvin, NASA’s chief scientist, who advised me on the geologic highlights of Marco Polo’s route through the Pamir; Toby Greenberg, whose knowledge of art history and perceptive eye made her an ideal researcher for the images reproduced in this book; Lila Haber, for her assistance in the early phases of this work; Jack Hidary; Fritz Jacobi; Ted Kaplan, for his Silk Road expertise; Laura Kopp, for her elegant translations; the distinguished medievalist James Muldoon of Brown University; Robert B. Oxnam, President Emeritus, the Asia Society, USA, and President, The Needham Research Institute, USA; Alice Petillot, my researcher and translator in Paris; the always inspiring Peter Pouncey of Columbia University; Igor de Rachewiltz of the Australian National University; Morris Rossabi of Columbia University, the author of an outstanding biography of Kublai Khan, and a generous source of wisdom on the Mongols; James D. Ryan of the City University of New York; Denise Sinclair, a board member of The Needham Research Institute, USA, for her insights on Chinese science and Joseph Needham; Jonathan Spence of Yale University; and Joseph Thanhauser III, who, along with the gang at Byrnam Wood, cheerfully distracted me.
My daughter Sara graciously became an informal Buddhism consultant as I worked on this book, and my son Nick contributed enlightening historical perspectives.
In England, I owe a