Items related to Catherine the Great: Life and Legend (Oxford Lives)
One of the most colorful characters in modern history, Catherine II of Russia began her life as a minor German princess, until the childless Empress Elizabeth and Catherine's own scheming mother married her off to the Grand Duke Peter of Russia at age sixteen. By thirty-three, she had overthrown her husband in a bloodless coup and established herself as Empress of the multinational Russian Empire, the largest territorial political unit in modern history.
Portrayed both as a political genius who restored to Russia the glory it had known in the days of Peter the Great and as a despotic foreign adventuress who usurped the Russian throne, murdered her rivals, and tyrannized her subjects, she was, by all accounts, an extraordinary woman. Catherine the Great, the first popular biography of the empress based on contemporary scholarship, provides a vivid portrait of Catherine as a mother, a lover, and, above all, an extremely savvy ruler. Concentrating on her long reign (1762-96), John Alexander examines all aspects of Catherine's life and career: the brilliant political strategies by which she won the acceptance of a nationalistic elite; her expansive foreign policy; the domestic reforms with which she revamped the Russian military, political structure, and economy; and, of course, her infamous love life.
Beginning with an account of the dramatic palace revolt by which Catherine unseated her husband and a background chapter describing the circumstances of her early childhood and marriage, Alexander then proceeds chronologically through the thirty-four years of her reign.
"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.
Review:
`Alexander demonstrates that he posesses two important skills which enable him to address a popular readership: the ability to tell a good story well and an understanding of the effective use of descriptive contemporary accounts and interesting detail to enliven the text. An academic readership will also find this study of value' Slavonic Review
'a balanced, comprehensive portrait of the woman whom custom calls "the Great", whom gossip painted as scarlet, but whom Diderot described probably accurately as "the soul of Brutus in the body of "Cleaopatra"'Sunday Times
`Alexander's biography is the best there is and likely to remain so'Times Literary Supplement
`a serious and highly readable work'Times Higher Education Supplement
'this is a serious and highly readable work, which draws on a wealth of published sources, notably Catherine's own voluminous writings' Lindsey Hughes, University of London, THES
'A very well researched book that's also very readable' Scottish Home and Country
'one of the most comprehensive studies of this woman written in modern times ... Well worth buying.' Irish Independent
'an excellent analysis of the historical context in which she cut such a flamboyant figure' Saturday Magazine
'Catherine the Great: Life and Legend 's principal service to the scholar is to trace the chronology of Catherine's reign in unparalleled detail ... a perceptive biography.' Scottish Slavonic Review, No. 17
Synopsis:
'a balanced, comprehensive portrait of the woman whom custom calls "the Great", whom gossip painted as scarlet, but whom Diderot described probably accurately as "the soul of Brutus in the body of "Cleaopatra"'Sunday Times
`Alexander's biography is the best there is and likely to remain so'Times Literary Supplement
`a serious and highly readable work'Times Higher Education Supplement
'this is a serious and highly readable work, which draws on a wealth of published sources, notably Catherine's own voluminous writings' Lindsey Hughes, University of London, THES
'A very well researched book that's also very readable' Scottish Home and Country
'one of the most comprehensive studies of this woman written in modern times ... Well worth buying.' Irish Independent
'an excellent analysis of the historical context in which she cut such a flamboyant figure' Saturday Magazine
'Catherine the Great: Life and Legend 's principal service to the scholar is to trace the chronology of Catherine's reign in unparalleled detail ... a perceptive biography.' Scottish Slavonic Review, No. 17
Empress of the vast Russian Empire by the age of 33, Catherine's private and public life generated tremendous contemporary controversy, and she has subsequently been portrayed variously as a political genius, a despotic foreign adventuress, a tyrant, and a nymphomaniac. Drawing on little-known sources, including Catherine's billets doux , John Alexander has produced a much-needed balanced appraisal and popular biography of one of the most powerful, infamous, and colourful figures in modern history.
"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.
- PublisherOxford University Press, USA
- Publication date1989
- ISBN 10 0195061624
- ISBN 13 9780195061628
- BindingPaperback
- Number of pages418
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