CITIES OF GOLD AND ISLES OF SPICE

by Christine Price ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1965

Seven hundred years before Vasco da Gama travelled by sea from Portugal to India, merchants and adventures were visiting the cities of the East and writing down the splendid things they saw. Though Marco Polo and da Gama are included in this volume, it is to the lesser-known tourists (exluding the Crusaders) that this author devotes her book. Beginning with Sindbad the Sailor and Suleyman, she recounts the travels of such men as the Arab Mas'udi, the Norseman Sigurd the Crusader, the Jew, Rabbi Benjamin and approximately 10 others. The author quotes profusely from the original writings, but she does not achieve a narrative flow comparable to Sanderlin's Eastward to India (also reviewed in this issue); the quoted material is too choppily incorporated into the author's text. The author has obviously done a great deal of work and a lot of this explorer material is distinctly hard to find among juvenile titles.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1965

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: McKay

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1965

Categories: NONFICTION