Marco Polo, the scion of a wealthy Venetian merchant family, was only seventeen when he set out in 1271 with his father and uncle on their journey to Asia. In the years that followed, he would become a trusted diplomat and intelligence agent in the Kublai Khan's government and explode the notion of non-Europeans as untutored savages. Bergreen's book is the first fully authoritative biography of one of the most fascinating figures in world history. This event is co-sponsored by WNET/Thirteen New York.