While on a kick of reading non-fiction, I added my name to the library waiting list for a recently written biography of Catherine the Great, Empress of All Russia. Albeit a bit gun shy after a disappointing experience with Cleopatra, A Life; I gave Catherine my full attention. At close to 600 pages, this was not a light read.
It was a fascinating read! I remember hearing about her in western civilization history courses, but before this book I could not have put her into context of a timeline or named any significant achievements (why was she "The Great"?) If you are looking for a great biography with interesting world history, check this one out. There are a few maps in the front of the book, but I found myself consulting world atlases to track her territorial expansion of Russia through various occupations and negotiations.
In addition to the expansion of her empire's boundaries, she had the personal goal of bringing the Enlightenment to Russia. With regular correspondence with Voltaire and Diderot, she experimented with their ideas as she formed her government. As the descriptions of the architecture and artwork left much to be imagined, I found it helpful to see these for myself (online, of course. Thanks Google). This book is worthwhile to get to know this empress, as well as to place her story on the timeline of western Europe and the American Revolution. As I'm writing this blog post, I discovered Massie has also written a biography of Peter the Great. That is being added to my list as well...
I've been thinking about this book...I'm so glad you read it and wrote a review. Now I'll make a point to pick it up! Thanks Amanda!
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