Cover of Peter the Great: His Life and World

Peter the Great: His Life and World

The Romanovs seriesbook 1 of 3Next:Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman(2011) →

Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia, unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, crowned at the age of 10. A barbarous, volatile feudal tsar with a taste for torture; a progressive and enlightened reformer of government and science; a statesman of vision and colossal significance: Peter the Great embodied the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Russia while being at the very forefront of her development.

Read more

Robert K. Massie delves deep into the life of this captivating historical figure, 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, and his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, unscrupulous prince who rose to power through Peter's friendship. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life.

Audience
adult
Length
epic · 909 pages

Click a tag to see books like this one that share it. Point at it (on a phone, tap it) for less of it instead.

Read it? Sign in to help tag it.

Liked Peter the Great: His Life and World? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Peter the Great: His Life and World. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Catherine the Great Shares biography, Russia, history
  2. Catherine the Great: Love, Sex, and Power Shares biography, Russia, nonfiction
  3. Catherine the Great: Life and Legend Shares biography, Russia, history
  4. Khrushchev: The Man and His Era Shares biography, Russia, history

“People who read Peter the Great: His Life and World tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Natasha's Dance: A Cultural History of Russia
  2. The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II
  3. The Romanovs: Autocrats of All the Russias
  4. Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra

“If you want more of the same (biography about history), start with these.”

  1. The Life and Times of Grigorii Rasputin
  2. Gorbachev: His Life and Times
  3. Trotsky: A Biography
  4. Stalin

“If it was the Russia that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Young Stalin
  2. The Rasputin File
  3. Fearful Majesty: The Life and Reign of Ivan the Terrible
  4. Stalin: Volume I: Paradoxes of Power, 1878-1928

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. Sunlight at Midnight: St. Petersburg and the Rise of Modern Russia
  2. The Revolution of Peter the Great
  3. Iron Kingdom: The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600–1947
  4. Pushkin: A Biography