“An excellent general introduction to Marco Polo. . . . Kinoshita provides much-needed elegant and imaginative discussions of historical contexts, in terms of people, places, and activities in different parts of the world in Marco Polo’s time, as a way of bringing Polo and his work to life.”

Margaret Kim, professor, National Tsing Hua University

"In Marco Polo and His World, Sharon Kinoshita offers us at once a single life – that of Marco Polo, merchant, traveler and narrator – and multiple lives, which radiate out like the spokes of a wheel during the original voyage from Italy to China. From one vantage point the book recounts the life of Marco Polo; from another that of the Great Khan, Qubilai; from another the exemplary history of Alexander the Great; and finally, in the speculative closing chapter, Marco Polo’s singular life is refracted out into the lifetimes of three of his contemporaries – a Chinese painter, a South Asian poet and a Byzantine princess. This is an unusual, adventuresome book that will open up multiple medieval worlds to a wide audience."

Suzanne Conklin Akbari, co-editor of 'Marco Polo and the Encounter of East and West'