Catherine the great biography massie review33
Catherine the great biography lovers...
The Russian empress Catherine the Great once described her lover Grigory Potemkin as "one of the great originals of the age." She was surely right about the empire-building Potemkin, but it was Catherine herself, an obscure German princess who rose through a combination of ruthlessness, energy, and imagination to become one of Russia's greatest rulers, who more properly deserves the title.
Catherine built, conquered, reformed, and organized—like all great monarchs of the 18th century.
Catherine the great biography massie review33
But what makes Catherine uniquely fascinating is her questing intellect, and the insight we have into it through her own writings. Thanks to her frank memoirs and letters, we see Catherine's lively mind struggling to reconcile her own enlightened principles with the dark, feudal realities of Russia.
"She saw herself, a daughter of Europe coming to Russia 18 years after Peter [the Great's] death, as resuming his journey to civilization and greatness," writes Robert Massie, veteran biographer of R