Download or read book Catherine the Great Portrait of a Woman written by Robert K. Massie and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2012-09-18 with total page 674 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • An “absorbing” (Los Angeles Times) biography of one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in Russian history—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs “[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • USA Today • The Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Salon • Vogue • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Providence Journal Robert K. Massie returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became Catherine the Great. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution. Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few stories richer than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, an eternally fascinating woman is returned to life.
Download or read book The Memoirs of Catherine the Great written by Catherine the Great and published by Modern Library. This book was released on 2007-12-18 with total page 362 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Empress Catherine II brought Europe to Russia, and Russia to Europe, during her long and eventful reign (1762—96). She fostered the culture of the Enlightenment and greatly expanded the immense empire created by Czar Ivan the Terrible, shifting the balance of power in Europe eastward. Famous for her will to power and for her dozen lovers, Catherine was also a prolific and gifted writer. Fluent in French, Russian, and German, Catherine published political theory, journalism, comedies, operas, and history, while writing thousands of letters as she corresponded with Voltaire and other public figures. The Memoirs of Catherine the Great provides an unparalleled window into eighteenth-century Russia and the mind of an absolute ruler. With insight, humor, and candor, Catherine presents her eyewitness account of history, from her whirlwind entry into the Russian court in 1744 at age fourteen as the intended bride of Empress Elizabeth I’s nephew, the eccentric drunkard and future Peter III, to her unhappy marriage; from her two children, several miscarriages, and her and Peter’s numerous affairs to the political maneuvering that enabled Catherine to seize the throne from him in 1762. Catherine’s eye for telling details makes for compelling reading as she describes the dramatic fall and rise of her political fortunes. This definitive new translation from the French is scrupulously faithful to her words and is the first for which translators have consulted original manuscripts written in Catherine’s own hand. It is an indispensable work for anyone interested in Catherine the Great, Russian history, or the eighteenth century.
Download or read book Catherine the Great written by Virginia Rounding and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-01-22 with total page 612 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: RA great thumping triumph of a bookS ("London Telegraph"), this is the first comprehensive modern biography of Catherine the Great to explore her both as a woman and empress.
Download or read book Nicholas and Alexandra written by Robert K. Massie and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-11-08 with total page 663 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “magnificent and intimate” (Harper’s) modern classic of Russian history, the spellbinding story of the love that ended an empire—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, The Romanovs, and Catherine the Great “A moving, rich book . . . [This] revealing, densely documented account of the last Romanovs focuses not on the great events . . . but on the royal family and their evil nemesis. . . . The tale is so bizarre, no melodrama is equal to it.”—Newsweek In this commanding book, New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of the Russian empire to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.
Download or read book Catherine the Great written by Henri Troyat and published by Penguin. This book was released on 1994-04-01 with total page 401 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: By delving into the life of Catherine the Great, this acclaimed biographer reveals the rich tapestry of Russia’s past, giving insight into the paradoxical character of its people and their stunning evolution from feudalism to communism to their present-day struggle for a free-market democracy. This is history as it is rarely written today—elegant, witty, dramatic, and with an intimate knowledge of its characters. And what better subject for a biography than one of history's most powerful women, the German-born Russian empress whose adopted language and culture were French, and whose most loyal correspondents were Voltaire and Diderot? Troyat details the various lives of Catherine II: the ambitious child, the acquiescent yet firm grand duchess, the forceful politician and patron of the arts, the belligerent war maker, and the doting grandparent. “A remarkable woman . . . A riveting book.”—Mary Renault “Brilliantly captures one of the most colorful figures of all time.”—Doubleday Book Club News
Download or read book Great Catherine written by Carolly Erickson and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 1995-08-15 with total page 412 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst became Empress Catherine II of Russia, an indomitable, feisty ruler who was very complex and became an infamous historical figure.
Download or read book The Empress of Art written by Susan Jaques and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-04-15 with total page 655 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A German princess who married a decadent and lazy Russian prince, Catherine mobilized support amongst the Russian nobles, playing off of her husband's increasing corruption and abuse of power. She then staged a coup that ended with him being strangled with his own scarf in the halls of the palace, and herself crowned the Empress of Russia. Intelligent and determined, Catherine modeled herself off of her grandfather in-law, Peter the Great, and sought to further modernize and westernize Russia. She believed that the best way to do this was through a ravenous acquisition of art, which Catherine often used as a form of diplomacy with other powers throughout Europe. She was a self-proclaimed "glutton for art" and she would be responsible for the creation of the Hermitage, one of the largest museums in the world, second only to the Louvre. Catherine also spearheaded the further expansion of St. Petersburg, and the magnificent architectural wonder the city became is largely her doing. There are few women in history more fascinating than Catherine the Great, and for the first time, Susan Jaques brings her to life through the prism of art.
Download or read book Portrait of a Lover written by Julianne MacLean and published by Harper Collins. This book was released on 2009-03-17 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A picture of deception . . . Annabelle Lawson knew nothing about the breathtaking stranger she met on the train—only that he'd make an ideal model for the budding young artist . . . and that she desired him more than she believed possible. But after she'd been seduced, she learned that she'd also been betrayed. The man she thought she loved was really Magnus Wallis—a scoundrel like his father before him, the loathed cousin of Annabelle's benefactor, the honorable Earl of Whitby. A landscape of love . . . No longer the naively romantic girl who would tumble for a rogue, Annabelle cannot avoid a reunion with the despicable Magnus, who wants to include her portraits in his new London gallery. She means to show him her coldest face—but upon seeing him again, her every intention melts from the heat of his touch. It is clear that Magnus still burns with love for her. But is he still the villain he once was, or can he be reformed into a man Annabelle can dare to love?
Download or read book The Imperial Wife written by Irina Reyn and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2016-07-19 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The Imperial Wife is a smart, engaging novel that parallels two fascinating worlds and two singular women. Irina Reyn writes beautifully of immigrants, art and the vagaries of love". --Jess Walter, National Book Award finalist and author of the New York Times bestseller, Beautiful Ruins Two women's lives collide when a priceless Russian artifact comes to light. Tanya Kagan, a rising specialist in Russian art at a top New York auction house, is trying to entice Russia's wealthy oligarchs to bid on the biggest sale of her career, The Order of Saint Catherine, while making sense of the sudden and unexplained departure of her husband. As questions arise over the provenance of the Order and auction fever kicks in, Reyn takes us into the world of Catherine the Great, the infamous 18th-century empress who may have owned the priceless artifact, and who it turns out faced many of the same issues Tanya wrestles with in her own life. Suspenseful and beautifully written, The Imperial Wife asks whether we view female ambition any differently today than we did in the past. Can a contemporary marriage withstand an “Imperial Wife”?
Download or read book Tsarina written by Ellen Alpsten and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2020-11-10 with total page 455 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Makes Game of Thrones look like a nursery rhyme." —Daisy Goodwin, New York Times bestselling author of The Fortune Hunter “[Alpsten] recounts this remarkable woman’s colourful life and times." —Count Nikolai Tolstoy, historian and author Before there was Catherine the Great, there was Catherine Alexeyevna: the first woman to rule Russia in her own right. Ellen Alpsten's rich, sweeping debut novel is the story of her rise to power. St. Petersburg, 1725. Peter the Great lies dying in his magnificent Winter Palace. The weakness and treachery of his only son has driven his father to an appalling act of cruelty and left the empire without an heir. Russia risks falling into chaos. Into the void steps the woman who has been by his side for decades: his second wife, Catherine Alexeyevna, as ambitious, ruthless and passionate as Peter himself. Born into devastating poverty, Catherine used her extraordinary beauty and shrewd intelligence to ingratiate herself with Peter’s powerful generals, finally seducing the Tsar himself. But even amongst the splendor and opulence of her new life—the lavish feasts, glittering jewels, and candle-lit hours in Peter’s bedchamber—she knows the peril of her position. Peter’s attentions are fickle and his rages powerful; his first wife is condemned to a prison cell, her lover impaled alive in Red Square. And now Catherine faces the ultimate test: can she keep the Tsar’s death a secret as she plays a lethal game to destroy her enemies and take the Crown for herself? From the sensuous pleasures of a decadent aristocracy, to the incense-filled rites of the Orthodox Church and the terror of Peter’s torture chambers, the intoxicating and dangerous world of Imperial Russia is brought to vivid life. Tsarina is the story of one remarkable woman whose bid for power would transform the Russian Empire.
Download or read book The Winter Palace written by Eva Stachniak and published by Random House. This book was released on 2012-01-19 with total page 459 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Vavara, a young Polish orphan, arrives at the glittering, dangerous court of the Empress Elizabeth in St Petersburg, she is schooled in skills ranging from lock-picking to love-making, learning above all else to stay silent - and listen. Then Sophie, a vulnerable young princess, arrives from Prussia as a prospective bride for the Empress's heir. Set to spy on her, Vavara soon becomes her friend and confidante, and helps her navigate the illicit liaisons and the treacherous shifting allegiances of the court. But Sophie's destiny is to become the notorious Catherine the Great. Are her ambitions more lofty and far-reaching than anyone suspected, and will she stop at nothing to achieve absolute power?
Download or read book Portrait of a Romantic written by Steven Millhauser and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 1978 with total page 373 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Queen Empress Concubine written by Claudia Gold and published by Quercus Books. This book was released on 2008 with total page 254 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The number of women who have ruled as queens or empresses, or governed as presidents or prime ministers, remains but a small subset of the total of those who have attained ultimate political power. But this elite group of women, who - through dynastic succession, democratic election or other means - have reached the heights of political and ceremonial leadership, includes some of the most influential and charismatic figures of world history.Queen, Empress, Concubine paints vivid portraits of the lives of 50 extraordinary women who have held positions of executive or ceremonial power throughout history, from the Queen of Sheba to Margaret Thatcher. Each biographical profile sets its subject clearly in the culture and context of its time, enabling author Claudia Gold not only to tell the stories of 50 courageous and fiercely independent women, but also to provide a fascinating and informative alternative social history of the last 3500 years.
Download or read book Stop Fixing Women written by Catherine Fox and published by . This book was released on 2017-05-05 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Millions of words have been spent in our quest to explain men's seemingly never-ending dominance in boardrooms, in parliaments, in the bureaucracy and in almost every workplace. So why is gender inequality still such a pressing issue? Wage inequality between men and women seems one of the intractables of our age. Women are told they need to back themselves more, stop marginalising themselves, negotiate better, speak up, support each other, strike a balance between work and home. This searing book argues that insisting that women fix themselves won't fix the system, the system built by men. Catherine Fox does more than identify and analyse the nature of the problem. Her book is an important tool for male leaders who say they want to make a difference. She throws down the gauntlet, showing how business, defence, public service and community leaders might do it, rather than just talk about it. She shows that not only will this be better for women but for productivity as well, not to mention men and women's health and happiness at home and at work.
Download or read book Catherine written by Gina Kaus and published by Pickle Partners Publishing. This book was released on 2018-12-05 with total page 631 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: THERE have been better women than Catherine of Russia, nobler and more learned women, but history discloses no woman who combined so much of good and evil into one bewildering and gloriously successful career. Daughter of a petty German Prince, chance made her the wife of the heir to the Russian Empire. She took that nation to her heart, discarded her weakling husband, and ruled her adopted country for more than three decades with a strength and understanding it had seldom known before. No one rejoiced at the birth of Catherine. Her parents had prayed for a boy, and the little girl was soon made to feel the bitterness of their disappointment. She decided, therefore, to become a man and, when the opportunity appeared, she decide to become the greatest man in Europe. Nothing stood in the way of that determination—Catherine was quite prepared to commit murder when the occasion called for it—but she was not cruel according to the standards of her day. She was kind, open-handed; her sympathetic interest in her people was deep; and she became noted for her acts of spontaneous generosity. Gina Kaus seizes the material which this unique life affords, remolds it in the light of newly discovered documents and modern psychology, and presents for the first time a unified and congruous portrait of Catherine. The spectacular occurrences of the Empress’s reign appear here in their relative significance to her life and to European history. Catherine fulfilled the dream of her girlhood and, as Frau Kaus remarks, she died the happiest death that ever Tsar died—she died of laughter.
Download or read book Catherine the Great written by John T. Alexander and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 1988-11-03 with total page 458 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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. Presenting Catherine in more human terms than previous biographers have, Alexander includes numerous quotations from her reminiscences and notes. We learn, for instance, not only the names and number of her lovers, but her understanding of what many considered a shocking licentiousness. "The trouble is," she wrote, "that my heart would not willingly remain one hour without love." The result of twenty years' research by one of America's leading narrative historians of modern Russia, this truly impressive work offers a much-needed, balanced reappraisal of one of history's most scandal-ridden figures.
Download or read book Catherine the Great written by United Library and published by History. This book was released on 2023-07-28 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catherine the Great is widely regarded as one of the most influential and powerful figures in European history. She ruled Russia during a period of immense growth, leading to new cities, universities, and theatres which furthered immigrants from Europe while also recognizing Russia's status as one of the world's great powers. Through her enlightened despotism philosophy, she encouraged advances in science and culture which unlocked potential for Russians everywhere. Her reign was not without tumult however; military conscription heavily relied on serfdom while peasant rebellions were commonplace. Yet even amidst turmoil she instituted reforms such as freeing nobles from state service with her Manifesto and creating a higher education institution for women - the Smolny Institute of Noble Maidens - all hallmarks of her legacy today. The brilliance and ambition instilled by Catherine has shaped Russian culture ever since her death more than two centuries ago.
