Voyager from Xanadu

"The story of Rabban Sauma's journey from Peking to Paris in the late thirteenth century is absorbing in its own right. But by his erudite commentary and fine evocation of context Morris Rossabi has given this adventure a wider scope, one that lets us ponder Marco Polo's travels from a reverse perspective, and thus gain a new focal point from which to start our studies of China and the Western world."--Jonathan Spence, author of The Memory Palace of Matteo Ricci

"A wonderful story which Morris Rossabi tells with scholarship and skill."--Steven Runciman, author of History of the Crusades

"Voyager from Xanadu is fascinating reading; I sat down with it and read straight through, unable to put it down. Morris Rossabi draws on all his immense erudition and yet never lets it obscure his sensitive concern with the intensely human character of this story. He importantly illumines lost pages in the history of thirteenth-century Europe and Asia, but in essence this is a triumph of sophisticated, cosmopolitan storytelling. Rabban Sauma lives."--Frederick W. Mote, author of The Intellectual Foundations of China

"This book is a wonderful resource for the student of world history."--John E. Wills, Jr., author of Mountain of Fame

"Voyager from Xanadu is a text no student should miss. It is an engaging account of Nestorian monk Rabban Sauma's trans-Eurasian travels at a crucial period in the early history of global diplomatic and commercial networking. Rossabi's text is always well-researched, highly readable, and guaranteed to intrigue with details of life and attitudes across thirteenth-century China, Iran, and Europe."--Roxann Prazniak, author of Dialogues Across Civilizations

Morris Rossabi is Distinguished Professor of History, City University of New York, and Adjunct Professor of Chinese and Mongolian History at Columbia University. He is the author of many books, including Khubilai Khan: His Life and Times (UC Press).