Peter the Great: His Life and World
Books | Biography & Autobiography / Political
3.9
Robert K. Massie
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER • An “urgently readable” (Newsweek) biography of the captivating tsar who changed Russian history—from the New York Times bestselling author of Nicholas and Alexandra, The Romanovs, and Catherine the Great “Enthralling . . . as fascinating as any novel and more so than most.”—The New York Times Book Review Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, crowned co-tsar at the age of ten. Robert K. Massie delves deep into his life, chronicling the pivotal events that shaped a boy into a legend—including his “incognito” travels in Europe, his unquenchable curiosity about Western ways, his obsession with the sea and establishment of the stupendous Russian navy, his creation of an unbeatable army, his transformation of Russia, and his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, the robust yet gentle peasant, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, bold, unscrupulous prince who rose to wealth and power through Peter’s friendship. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life.
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More Details:
Author
Robert K. Massie
Pages
928
Publisher
Random House Publishing Group
Published Date
2012-02-22
ISBN
0307817237 9780307817235
Ratings
Google: 3.5
Community ReviewsSee all
"What a tome! I feel like I've been reading this book for years, but that's not because it's uninteresting or badly written. It's just very long. It's also very thorough, including chapters on many of the important people who ruled during Peter's lifetime, which I found helpful since I don't have as much of a familiarity with 18th century Europe as I do with that same time in the Americas (and even then I don't know as much, as Peter the Great was tsar long before there was a United States of America). <br/><br/>Peter the Great seems a fascinating man, harsh and fair by equal measures. The middle of the book tends to dive too much into the wars which shaped so much of his time as ruler, and while that is interesting, I feel like we don't learn as much about Peter himself during that time. The beginning and end spend a lot more time on Peter as a person and I found those parts much more intriguing. Its certainly made me more interested in reading more about Russian history."
John Detrick