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Marc Marquez: Dreams Come True: My Story
by Freddie Spencer‘He has all the potential to become the greatest of all time’ Valentino Rossi, nine-time world championMarc Márquez is a phenomenon in the world of motorsports. In his first season in MotoGP, at the tender age of 20, he achieved the extraordinary by becoming the youngest world champion ever. He’s currently dominating in his second season, and is set to become the greatest the sport has ever seen. In his first official biography - fully-illustrated with many unseen photographs - Marc offers an exclusive insight into his first year racing in the premier class and his historic championship win. Through the words of his team, his family and his rivals for the title, we begin to understand the answer to his remarkable success. It’s the story of Marc’s greatest risks and challenges, from vision problems that put a halt on his career to the huge crash in May that saw him flying off his bike at a staggering speed of 175 mph. But Marc continues to rewrite history, earning titles with his fearless racing and winning fans with his boyish charm and famous smile – and smashing every record along the way.
Marcel Pronovost
by Marcel Pronovost Bob Duff"Marcel was the most underrated defenceman ever to play in the league. When he hit you, you were hit. He was a tremendous skater and defensively, he was as good as anyone. He might have been overlooked by the press, but he was never overlooked by his teammates. Years later, I brought him back to Detroit as a coach. He is very knowledgeable and a very astute observer of the game."-Hall of Fame left-winger Ted Lindsay (Pronovost's teammate from 1949-57 and 1964-65)In the spring of 1950, Marcel Pronovost was called up from the minor leagues to play for the Detroit Red Wings during the Stanley Cup playoffs. The 18-year-old defenceman had never seen NHL ice time before, but his performance in the playoffs was so impressive that he took regular turns in the final series against the New York Rangers. That year, Marcel Provonost became the ninth player in history to win a Stanley Cup before playing a single regular-season NHL game.So began Pronovost's 65-year career in pro hockey. As a Red Wing he became a star defenceman in Detroit's golden age, winning three more Stanley Cups between 1952 and 1955, and skating side-by-side with Gordie Howe, Ted Lindsay, and Terry Sawchuk (who became a lifelong friend). He played a pivotal role in the Toronto Maple Leafs' last Stanley Cup win in 1967. He earned recognition on the NHL's First and Second All-Star Teams. And he has continued to serve the game for decades, becoming one of the few NHLers to have success as a player, a coach, and as a scout.Now, with Marcel Pronovost: A Life in Hockey, this legendary defenceman and Hockey Hall of Famer tells these and other stories for the first time. With over 125 photos and with on-the-ice recollections from the most exciting Original Six Era games ever played, A Life in Hockey is a hard-hitting memoir, and an insider's take on playing, coaching, and scouting that spans seven decades, and surveys one of the longest hockey careers of all time. A must-have autobiography for Red Wings fans, Leafs fans, and hockey buffs everywhere.
Marcel Proust
by William C. CarterThis outstanding biography portrays in abundant detail the life and extraordinary times of Marcel Proust, one of the greatest literary voiced of the twentieth century. Based on a wealth of letters, memoirs, workbooks, and manuscripts unavailable before, the book examines Proust's character and development as an artist, the glittering Parisian world of which he was a part, and the passions that enabled him to write his masterpiece, In Search of Lost Time. Book jacket.
Marcel Proust: A Life
by Edmund WhiteIf there is anyone worthy of producing an intimate biography of the enigmatic genius behind Remembrance of Things Past, it is Edmund White, himself an award- winning writer for whom Marcel Proust has long been an obsession. <P><P>White introduces us not only to the recluse endlessly rewriting his one massive work through the night, but also the darling of Parisian salons, the grasper after honors, and the closeted homosexual-a subject this book is the first to explore openly. <P>From the frothiest gossip to the deepest angst, here is a moving portrait to be treasured by anyone looking for an introduction to this literary icon.
Marcel Tabuteau: How Do You Expect to Play the Oboe If You Can't Peel a Mushroom?
by Laila StorchLaila Storch is a world-renowned oboist in her own right, but her book honors Marcel Tabuteau, one of the greatest figures in twentieth-century music. Tabuteau studied the oboe from an early age at the Paris Conservatoire and was brought to the United States in 1905, by Walter Damrosch, to play with the New York Symphony Orchestra. Although this posed a problem for the national musicians' union, he was ultimately allowed to stay, and the rest, as they say, is history. Eventually moving to Philadelphia, Tabuteau played in the Philadelphia Orchestra and taught at the Curtis Institute of Music, ultimately revamping the oboe world with his performance, pedagogical, and reed-making techniques.In 1941, Storch auditioned for Tabuteau at the Curtis Institute, but was rejected because of her gender. After much persistence and several cross-country bus trips, she was eventually accepted and began a life of study with Tabuteau. Blending archival research with personal anecdotes, and including access to rare recordings of Tabuteau and Waldemar Wolsing, Storch tells a remarkable story in an engaging style.
Marcel's Letters: A Font and the Search for One Man's Fate
by Carolyn PorterFinalist for the 2018 Minnesota Book AwardA graphic designer’s search for inspiration leads to a cache of letters and the mystery of one man’s fate during World War II.Seeking inspiration for a new font design in an antique store in small-town Stillwater, Minnesota, graphic designer Carolyn Porter stumbled across a bundle of letters and was immediately drawn to their beautifully expressive pen-and-ink handwriting. She could not read the letters-they were in French-but she noticed all of them had been signed by a man named Marcel and mailed from Berlin to his family in France during the middle of World War II.As Carolyn grappled with designing the font, she decided to have one of Marcel’s letters translated. Reading it opened a portal to a different time, and what began as mere curiosity quickly became an obsession with finding out why the letter writer, Marcel Heuzé, had been in Berlin, how his letters came to be on sale in a store halfway around the world, and, most importantly, whether he ever returned to his beloved wife and daughters after the war.Marcel’s Letters is the incredible story of Carolyn’s increasingly desperate search to uncover the mystery of one man’s fate during WWII, seeking answers across Germany, France, and the United States. Simultaneously, she continues to work on what would become the acclaimed P22 Marcel font, immortalizing the man and his letters that waited almost seventy years to be reunited with his family.
Marcel's Masterpiece: How a Toilet Shaped the History of Art
by Jeff MackAn engaging, kid-friendly introduction to artist Marcel Duchamp and how he turned a toilet into a famous work of art.This is the story of Marcel Duchamp and how the Dada art movement changed the way people thought about what art could be, and what could be art. From drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa to attaching a bicycle wheel to a stool, Duchamp's work challenged long-held notions of art and how it should be made. People were amused, confused, and sometimes offended, and that was just the way Marcel Duchamp liked it.With Marcel's Masterpiece, Jeff Mack explores Duchamp's most famous provocation, and asks readers to ponder the ideas that help us see the world in new and interesting ways.
March Forth
by Trevor Greene Debbie GreeneAt the age of forty-one, Trevor Greene, a journalist and a reservist in the Canadian Forces, was deployed to Afghanistan, leaving behind his fiance, Debbie, and his young daughter, Grace. On March 4, 2006, while meeting with village elders in a remote village in Kandahar Province, Trevor removed his helmet, confident that a centuries-old pact would protect him from harm. Without warning, a teenage boy under the influence of the Taliban walked up to him and landed a rusty axe in his skull, nearly splitting his brain in two. Initially, Debbie was told that Trevor would not survive. When he did, she was told that he would never be able to communicate or move on his own. But after years of rehabilitation, setbacks and crises, Trevor not only learned how to talk and move again, but in July 2010, he stood up at his wedding, Debbie at his side and Grace carrying their rings down the aisle as their flower girl. March Forth is a remarkable story of love told in two voices: first in Trevor's, up until the attack; then in Debbie's, as she works tirelessly to rehabilitate her fiance. Together, Trevor and Debbie have written the next chapter in their remarkable story.
March Forward, Girl: From Young Warrior to Little Rock Nine
by Melba Pattillo Beals Frank MorrisonFrom the legendary civil rights activist and author of the million-copy selling Warriors Don't Cry comes an ardent and profound childhood memoir of growing up while facing adversity in the Jim Crow South. Long before she was one of the Little Rock Nine, Melba Pattillo Beals was a warrior. Frustrated by the laws that kept African-Americans separate but very much unequal to whites, she had questions. Why couldn’t she drink from a "whites only" fountain? Why couldn’t she feel safe beyond home—or even within the walls of church? Adults all told her: Hold your tongue. Be patient. Know your place. But Beals had the heart of a fighter—and the knowledge that her true place was a free one. Combined with emotive drawings and photos, this memoir paints a vivid picture of Beals’ powerful early journey on the road to becoming a champion for equal rights, an acclaimed journalist, a best-selling author, and the recipient of this country’s highest recognition, the Congressional Gold Medal.
March of the Suffragettes: Rosalie Gardiner Jones and the March for Voting Rights
by Zachary Michael JackMarch of the Suffragettes tells the forgotten, real-life story of "General" Rosalie Gardiner Jones, who in the waning days of 1912 mustered and marched an all-women army nearly 200 miles to help win support for votes for women. General Jones, along with her good friends and accomplices "Colonel" Ida Craft, "Surgeon General" Lavinia Dock, and "War Correspondent" Jessie Hardy Stubbs, led marchers across New York state for their pilgrims' cause, encountering not just wind, fog, sleet, snow, mud, and ice along their unpaved way, but also hecklers, escaped convicts, scandal-plagued industrialists on the lam, and jealous boyfriends and overprotective mothers hoping to convince the suffragettes to abandon their dangerous project. By night Rosalie's army met and mingled with the rich and famous, attending glamorous balls in beautiful dresses to deliver fiery speeches; by day they fought blisters and bone-chilling cold, debated bitter anti-suffragists, and dodged wayward bullets and pyrotechnics meant to intimidate them. They composed and sang their own marching songs for sisterhood and solidarity on their route, even as differences among them threatened to tear them apart. March of the Suffragettes chronicles the journey of four friends across dangerous terrain in support of a timeless cause, and it offers a hopeful reminder that social change is achieved one difficult, dauntless, daring step at a time.
The March on Paris: The Memoirs of Alexander von Kluck, 1914
by Alexander von KluckVon Kluck saw active military service at an early age during the Seven Weeks' War of 1866 and, in 1870-71, the Franco-Prussian War. Rising through the army, he became inspector general of the Seventh Army District in 1913.During the First World War von Kluck commanded the German First Army, notably in the Schlieffen Plan offensive against Paris at the start of the war in August 1914. An aggressive commander, von Kluck's impatience (at the request of Second Army commander von Bulow - who was unwilling to allow gaps to appear in the German front - he switched his advance south and east of Paris rather than the planned north and west), allied with a lack of direction from the German High Command and effective French and British counter-attacks, led to the failure of the Schlieffen offensive.Von Kluck's role in the plan was to command the extreme right of the German forces in attacking the left flank of the French army and encircling Paris, bringing a rapid conclusion to the war.After capturing Brussels on 20 August, von Kluck was almost successful in defeating France, his forces being halted a mere 13 miles from the French capital in the First Battle of the Marne from 6-9 September 1914. His forces had earlier fought costly battles against the British at Mons and at Le Cateau. With the suspension of the German offensive the nature of the battle changed to one of trench warfare, remaining essentially static until the end of the war.Von Kluck was himself seriously wounded in the leg in March 1915, retiring from active service the following year in October 1916.
March Past: The Memoir of a Commando Leader, From Lofoten to Dieppe & D-Day
by Lord LovatAt the outbreak of war in 1940, Simon Frazer, the 15th Lord Lovat and a former Guards officer, was mobilized from the reserve list to join the Lovat Scouts, the British Army’s first sniper unit that had been formed by his father during the Boer War. The following year he volunteered for one of the new Commando units then being created. Lovat was personally involved in the training of the Commando troops on the West coast of Scotland. He was eventually attached to, and led, No.4 Commando. On 3 March 1941, Nos. 3 and 4 Commando launched a raid on the German-occupied Lofoten Islands. In this successful attack, Operation Claymore, the commandos destroyed fish-oil factories, petrol dumps, and even eleven ships. They also seized encryption equipment and codebooks, as well as captured 216 German troops. Promoted to temporary major, Lovat led 100 men of No.4 Commando and a 50-man detachment from the Canadian Carleton and York Regiment in a raid on the French coastal village of Hardelot in April 1942. For this action he was awarded the Military Cross on 7 July that year. Lord Lovat was involved in further raids against the German-held French coast, most notably Dieppe, during which No.4 Commando destroyed the coastal battery at Varengeville-sur-Mer in a textbook commando attack. This resulted in Lovat being awarded the DSO. Such was the effect the Commando raids had on German morale, Lovat had 100,000 Reichmarks placed on his head, dead or alive. Promoted to brigadier, Lovat formed the 1st Special Service Brigade (later the 1st Commando Brigade) which stormed ashore on D-Day to secure the eastern flank of the attacking forces. In this, he famously instructed his personal piper, Bill Millin, to pipe the commandos and himself ashore, in defiance of specific orders not to allow such an action in battle. In the subsequent fighting Lovat was seriously wounded, effectively ending his active career. These are the memoirs of one of the most remarkable fighting figures of the Second World War, who was involved in some its more exciting and dangerous operations. Despite his aristocratic ancestry, he led from the front and, without doubt, Simon Frazer, Lord Lovat was a soldiers’ soldier.
The March to Kandahar: Roberts in Afghanistan
by Rodney AtwoodThe story of the British commander who led a three-hundred-mile march from Kabul to Kandahar and became the toast of Victorian England. This book examines the role of Frederick Roberts in the Second Anglo-Afghan War, culminating in his famous march in 1880 with ten thousand British and Indian soldiers, covering three hundred miles in twenty-three days, from Kabul to Kandahar to defeat the Afghan army of Ayub Khan, pretender to the Amirship of Kabul. The march made Roberts one of late Victorian England&’s great military heroes, partly because of the achievement itself, partly because the victory restored British prestige after defeat, and finally because of Roberts&’ astute use of the press to puff his victory. This overcame the earlier damage done to his reputation by the political storm that followed his hanging of over eighty Afghans in revenge for the massacre of a British envoy and his escort. It enabled the liberal Viceroy of India, Lord Ripon, to extract his forces from an Afghan imbroglio with prestige restored and an emir on the Afghan throne who for thirty-nine years maintained friendship with British India. Roberts (or Bobs as he was known) subsequently advanced to command the Indian Army, working closely with future viceroys to influence Indian defense policy on the North-West Frontier, and being hymned by Rudyard Kipling, poet of empire. His bestselling autobiography, Forty-One Years in India, established his image before the British public and he remains one of Britain&’s best known, if least understood, military figures
Marching Along: Recollections of Men, Women and Music
by John Philip Sousa Paul E. BierleyMarching Along is the intriguing autobiography John Philip Sousa wrote in the final years of his life. Sousa (1854-1932) was America's first superstar, a giant of his day. He conducted more than 14,000 concerts, composed a hundred hit tunes, and wrote three Broadway musicals that ran at the same time. In 1900 he was the best-known musician in the world, friends with presidents, corporate giants, and movie stars. Marching Along contains the amusing and insightful reflections of a world-class musician who charmed audiences around the globe for half a century yet also reveals the man's humble nature as a simple lover of music. This book brings the colorful story of the March King and his music into true focus in an engaging and entertaining way. It is sure to bring every reader, musician or not, insights into the man who dominated the musical scene of early twentieth-century America.
Marching from Defeat: Surviving the Collapse of the German Army in the Soviet Union 1944
by Claus NeuberIn this WWII memoir, a Nazi soldier recounts his desperate retreat from Russia, offering rare insight into the collapse of Hitler’s Army Group Central.In June of 1944, the Red Army launched a massive offensive that crushed Hitler’s forces in Belarus. German soldiers who weren’t captured had to fight their way back towards their own lines across hundreds of miles of enemy territory. This is the story of one of them, Claus Neuber, a young artillery officer who describes in graphic detail his experiences during that great retreat.Neuber’s account carries the reader through the desperate defensive battles and rearguard actions fought to stem the relentless Soviet advance and breakout from the cauldrons between Minsk and the Beresina river. After almost seventy days as a fugitive, depending on the kindness of villagers, enduring extremes of cold, wet and hunger, Neuber found his way back to the German lines. This personal narrative, translated for the first time from the original German, gives a dramatic insight into the impact of the Soviet offensive and the disintegration of an entire German army. It vividly records in day-to-day detail the experience of such a bitter defeat.
Marching to Freedom: The Story of Martin Luther King, Jr. (Famous Lives)
by Joyce MiltonA biography of the Baptist minister and civil rights leader whose practice of nonviolent civil disobedience helped African Americans win many battles for equal rights.
Marching to the Drums: Eyewitness Accounts of War from the Kabul Massacre to the Siege of Mafeking
by Ian KnightIn this gripping collection of first-hand accounts, Ian Knight presents the adventure of nineteenth-century warfare from the thrill of the cavalry charges at Balaklava and Omdurman, to the terror of battle against an overwhelming odds such as Rorke's Drift in the words of the men actually there.These eyewitness accounts provide a vivid and sometimes shocking insight into the brutal realities of warfare for the British imperial soldier, who fought against enemies from massed ranks of Russians and assegai-armed natives to sharp-shooting Boers, in often the most terrible conditions imaginable.These stirring tales of military adventure have been edited by Ian Knight and brought together and published in book form. Originally featured in turn-of-the-century magazine, popular during the heyday of empire, these historically valuable accounts throw considerable light on campaign conditions during Queen Victoria's colonial wars.Marching to the Drums includes accounts focusing on the experience of battle during such pivotal conflicts as the Sikh Wars, the Crimean War, the Afghan Wars, the Anglo-Zulu War, and those in China, the Sudan and South Africa.
Marching to the Mountaintop
by Jim Lawson Ann BausumIn early 1968 the grisly on-the-job deaths of two African-American sanitation workers in Memphis, Tennessee, prompted an extended strike by that city's segregated force of trash collectors. Workers sought union protection, higher wages, improved safety, and the integration of their work force. Their work stoppage became a part of the larger civil rights movement and drew an impressive array of national movement leaders to Memphis, including, on more than one occasion, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.King added his voice to the struggle in what became the final speech of his life. His assassination in Memphis on April 4 not only sparked protests and violence throughout America; it helped force the acceptance of worker demands in Memphis. The sanitation strike ended eight days after King's death.The connection between the Memphis sanitation strike and King's death has not received the emphasis it deserves, especially for younger readers. Marching to the Mountaintop explores how the media, politics, the Civil Rights Movement, and labor protests all converged to set the scene for one of King's greatest speeches and for his tragic death.From the Hardcover edition.
Marching to the Sound of Gunfire: North-West Europe, 1944–1945
by Patrick DelaforceIn this exciting and revealing book, scores of British soldiers tell their amazing stories of life and death in the front line of the Allies' advance from Normandy to Hitler's Germany. In eleven months of bitter fighting between D-Day and VE Day the combined efforts of the British and their allies' armed forces ground down their ruthless enemy in the pursuit of victory. Each and every man has a unique story to tell, whether they were infantry, tank crews, gunners, sappers or in vital logistic and supporting units. Theirexperiences make for powerful and fascinating reading. First-hand accounts of the landings, liberation of towns and villages, fierce actions, not all successful, bring home to the reader the cost of war as well as the magnitude of the venture. Particularly evocative is the range of emotions that were experienced by those involved, be they generals or the most junior soldiers. The passage of time means that many of these 'voices' will be heard no more but fortunately Marching to the Sound of Gunfire captures their inspiring testimonies for posterity.
Marching with the Devil: Legends, Glory and Lies in the French Foreign Legion
by David Mason`Since its creation in 1831, the French Foreign Legion has become the stuff of myth, fiction and dreams... Anyone thinking of joining up would be well advised to read this book first? - The Sun HeraldA real-life boy's own adventure, Marching With The Devil is an account of David Mason's five years in the infamous French Foreign Legion.David Mason graduated from the Australian National University with a law degree and an honours degree. Like those around him, he could easily have settled for a life of share portfolios, good suits, new cars and big houses. But David wanted more ? he wanted a challenge, an adventure, something beyond the ordinary that would test him physically and mentally. He looked around to see what he could do. Working in an open-cut mine . . . done that. Running a marathon . . . hmm, not hard enough. Climbing Everest . . . maybe? Joining the French Foreign Legion . . . perfect!Marching With The Devil is the gripping true story of what happened when an Australian lawyer left his comfortable existence and joined the legendary French Foreign Legion. He stayed for five years and served time in the elite Parachute Regiments. With the motto 'March or Die', the legion has a history of pain, grief and glory. David Mason takes us behind the myth to reveal exactly what happens: the adventure, the danger, the drinking, the fighting and the lies that sustain the legend.fore the final choice must be made.`Remarkable... It's hard not to think it a shame that a man of such obvious gifts should have wasted them on the legion, just so as not to have to feel like a quitter, even if this book was the result? - The Age`Marching with the Devil quickly turns into an insightful and honest account of an unpretentious Aussie's experiences in one of the most ramshackle and soul-destroying military organisations on Earth? - Courier Mail`A strangely compulsive read about one man?s quest for self knowledge? - Men's Health Magazine`Mason left a comfortable life in Australia to test himself in the crucible of the legion, and he writes about it 20 years after his service time necessary to give himself the distance and context he needed to write about an extraordinary and painful experience? - Sunday Mail Brisbane
Marching with the First Nebraska: A Civil War Diary
by August ScherneckauAugust Scherneckau’s diary is the most important firsthand account of the Civil War by a Nebraska soldier that has yet come to light. A German immigrant, Scherneckau served with the First Nebraska Volunteers from 1862 through 1865. Depicting the unit’s service in Missouri, Arkansas, and Nebraska Territory, he offers detail, insight, and literary quality matched by few other accounts of the Civil War in the West. His observations provide new perspective on campaigns, military strategy, leadership, politics, ethnicity, emancipation, and a host of other topics. Scherneckau takes readers on the march as he and his comrades plod through mud and snow during a grueling winter campaign in the Missouri Ozarks. He served as a provost guard in St. Louis, where he helped save a former slave from kidnappers and observed the construction of Union gunboats. He describes the process of transforming a regiment from infantry to cavalry, and his account of First Nebraska’s pursuit of Freeman’s Partisans in Arkansas is an exciting portrayal of mountain fighting. An annotated edition that brings to bear the editors’ and translator’s respective expertise in both the Civil War and the German language, Scherneckau’s account is an important addition to primary material on the war’s forgotten theater. It will be a valued resource for historian and Civil War enthusiast alike.
Marcia Clark: Her Private Trials and Public Triumphs
by Clifford L. LinedeckerWife. Mother. Celebrity. Crusader. Who is the real Marcia Clark? How did a sheltered, studious young woman born into a religious Jewish family become a hard-hitting prosecutor and National media star? Read about: Her early childhood in san Francisco-- and dreams of the stage. Her stormy first marriage to a high-stakes gambler whose rip-off victims included O.J. Simpson ... Her Meteoric rise from defense attorney to Special Trials Prosecutor whose high-profile cases included the Rebecca Schaeffer stalker murder trial. Her past battles with Robert Shapiro. The man who was her secret mentor. Her disastrous second marriage-- and the custody battle for their two young sons that has sparked outrage across America. Why she underwent a complete makeover for the O.J. Simpson case.
The Marco Chonicles
by Elizabeth GeogheganIn this hilarious, irreverent, flash memoir, a young American expat arrives in Rome to find handsome, charming men, breathtakingly beautiful antiquities, and perfectly made cappuccino. What more could anyone want? But after a few too many romantic mishaps, she discovers the so-called dolce vita comes at a price. With a jaded eye, but a vulnerable heart, short story writer Elizabeth Geoghegan takes us on a literary Sex in the City romp through Rome. The Marco Chronicles shows us what life in Italy looks like when you' re 30-something, running from grief, and trying to find a way back to love.
Marco Pierre White: Making of Marco Pierre White,Sharpest Chef in History
by Charles HennessyMarco was born of working-class parents on a bleak council estate in Leeds, and his Italian mother died when he was six years old. Today he has become a star chef of international renown, a controversial media celebrity, a national icon of the 1980s and 1990s, and a multimillionaire entrepreneur - all before the age of 40. How has this staggering rise to fame and fortune been achieved? MPW (as he calls himself and many of his new restaurants) is today widely regarded as the best cook in the country, but his astonishing talents and understanding of food are only part of the explanation. As this fascinating book reveals, there are many sides to this complex man which the massive media coverage he has received over the years have never revealed. Charles Hennessy tells the story with insight: the unpromising early life, his first job as a kitchen porter in Harrogate, the epiphany at the age of 17 when he went to work at the Box Tree restaurant in Ilkley, his arrival in London, learning under the Roux brothers, Pierre Koffmann and Raymond Blanc, and the opening of his own first restaurant, Harvey's from whence his fame and fortune grew.
Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu
by Laurence BergreenBetween 1271 and 1275, Marco Polo, gentleman and merchant of Venice, accompanied his father Niccolo and uncle Maffeo on a journey east from Acre, Israel, into central Asia along the Silk Route, eventually reaching China and the court of the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan. Entering the service of the Khan, he travelled extensively in the Mongol Empire. The three Venetians returned home by sea in 1292-5, calling at Sumatra and southern India before reaching Persia and making the last part of their journey to Venice overland.