The Marco Polo Foundation, Inc. is a non-profit foundation dedicated to providing a better understanding between the East and the West by means of International research, expeditions along the routes of Marco Polo, publication of books, production of films, video and the creation of this website.
The Books
The Marco Polo Odyssey: In the Footsteps of a Merchant Who Changed the World
The Marco Polo Odyssey tracks the fantastic journey of an intrepid adventurer who spent ten years following the 13,000 mile overland route of Marco Polo from Venice to Israel, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, and finally crossing China to Beijing. It is an account of an exhilarating voyage of discovery and the three expeditions it took author Harry Rutstein to finally fulfill his dream.
Using every means of travel available-including camels, farm tractors, horses and goatskin rafts-author Harry Rutstein became the first person known to have retraced Marco Polo's footsteps. This book chronicles his extraordinary adventures and authenticates the 13th century journey of the great explorer.Marco Polo's travels and subsequent bestselling book sparked the expansion of the mercantile empires of medieval Europe and gave birth to the modern age of globalization.
The Marco Polo Odyssey is history wrapped in adventure. Harry Rutstein made history in 1985 as the first person to retrace all of Marco Polo's footsteps from Europe to China. This is the account of his ten-year adventure in pursuit of the famous 13th century explorer. His quest, over the course of three expeditions, was to authenticate Polo's journey and document his own experiences traveling the same route. The result is a compelling, colorful and humorous chronicle by a master storyteller.
Hardback
271 pages
137 color photos
9 full color maps
ISBN: 978-0-9802076-0-6
Published by Bennett & Hastings, September, 2008
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In the Footsteps of Marco Polo: A Twentieth-Century Oddyssey
Using every means of travel available-including camels, farm tractors, horses and goatskin rafts-author Harry Rutstein became the first person known to have retraced Marco Polo's footsteps. This book chronicles his extraordinary adventures and authenticates the 13th century journey of the great explorer.Marco Polo's travels and subsequent bestselling book sparked the expansion of the mercantile empires of medieval Europe and gave birth to the modern age of globalization.
Included with book: DVD of 26 minute movie: On the Roof of the World with Marco Polo produced by the Marco Polo Foundation, Inc. (1982). A documentary of the 1981 Harry Rutstein expedition across the Hindu Kush mountains of Northern Pakistan
Hardback
128 pages
142 color and black & white photos
7 maps and many ancient prints
ISBN: 0-670-39683-4
Published by Viking Press, 1980
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Harry Rutstein
Harry Rutstein is a modern day Marco Polo. His unprecedented expedition following the 13th century traveler from Venice to Beijing has won him the title of Fellow in the Royal Geographic Society and the Explorers Club. Rutstein has written two books, presented lectures around the world, produced videos about his projects and has attempted in many ways to carry on Marco Polo's efforts to introduce Ancient Asia to the western world. It has been this objective that Harry Rutstein has pursued for over thirty-five years.
THE EXPEDITIONS is a narrated slide show of the 1975, 1981 and 1985 expeditions as presented in our book The Marco Polo Odyssey.
THE PROJECT is a video presentation offering a summary of the entire Marco Polo project including film clips from the DVD movie On the Roof of the World with Marco Polo that is enclosed with our book The Marco Polo Odyssey.