Catherine the Great : portrait of a woman / Robert K. Massie.
Massie, Robert K., 1929-2019.
2011
DK170 .M34 2011 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection

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Title Catherine the Great : portrait of a woman / Robert K. Massie.
Author Massie, Robert K., 1929-2019.
Edition 1st ed.
ISBN 9780679456728 (alk. paper)
0679456724 (alk. paper)
Imprint New York : Random House, c2011.
Language English
Description xiii, 625 p., [16] p. of plates : ill. (some col.), maps ; 25 cm.
Call Number DK170 .M34 2011
Dewey Decimal Classification 947/.063092 B
Summary The Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire. She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval hero, John Paul Jones. Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined to become the embodiment of the "benevolent despot" idealized by Montesquieu, she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and 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 that swept across Europe. Her reputation depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers; she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as "the Messalina of the north." Catherine's family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies -- all are here, vividly described. These included her ambitious, perpetually scheming mother; her weak, bullying husband, Peter (who left her lying untouched beside him for nine years after their marriage); her unhappy son and heir, Paul; her beloved grandchildren; and her "favorites" -- the parade of young men from whom she sought companionship and the recapture of youth as well as sex. Here, too, is the giant figure of Gregory Potemkin, her most significant lover and possible husband, with whom she shared a passionate correspondence of love and separation, followed by seventeen years of unparalleled mutual achievement. The story is superbly told. All the special qualities that Robert K. Massie brought to Nicholas and Alexandra and Peter the Great are present here: historical accuracy, depth of understanding, felicity of style, mastery of detail, ability to shatter myth, and a rare genius for finding and expressing the human drama in extraordinary lives. History offers few stories richer in drama than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, this eternally fascinating woman is returned to life. - Publisher.
Bibliography, etc. Note Includes bibliographical references and index.
Awards Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction, 2012.
Record Appears in On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources
Part 1 : A German princess. Sophia's childhood
Summoned to Russia
Frederick II and the journey to Russia
Empress Elizabeth
The making of a grand duke
Meeting Elizabeth and Peter
Pneumonia
Intercepted letters
Conversion and betrothal
A pilgrimage to Kiev and transvestite balls
Smallpox
Marriage
Johanna goes home
Part 2 : A painful marriage. The Zhukova affair
Peepholes
A watchdog
He was not a king
In the bedroom
A house collapses
Summer pleasures
Dismissals at court
Moscow and the country
Choglokov makes an enemy and Peter survives a plot
A bath before Easter and a coachman's whip
Oysters and an actor
Reading, dancing, and a betrayal
Part 3 : Seduction, motherhood, and confrontation. Saltykov
The birth of the heir
Retaliation
The English ambassador
A diplomatic earthquake
Poniatowski
A dead rat, an absent lover, and a risky proposal
Catherine challenges Brockdorff; she gives a party
Apraskin's retreat
Catherine's daughter
The fall of Bestuzhev
A gamble
Confrontation
A menage a quatre
Part 4 : The time has come! Panin, Orlov, and Elizabeth's death
The brief reign of Peter III
Dura!
We ourselves know not what we did
Part 5 : Empress of Russia. Coronation
The government and the church
Serfdom
Madame Orlov could never be Empress of Russia
The death of Ivan VI
Catherine and the Enlightenment
The Nakaz
All free estates of the realm
The king we have made
The first partition of Poland and the first Turkish War
Doctors, smallpox, and plague
The return of Peter the Third
The last days of the Marquis de Pugachev
Part 6 : Potemkin and favoritism. Vasilchikov
Catherine and Potemkin : Passion
Potemkin ascending
Catherine and Potemkin : separation
New relationships
Favorites
Part 7 : My name is Catherine the Second. Catherine, Paul, and Natalia
Paul, Maria, and the succession
Potemkin : builder and diplomat
Crimean journey and Potemkin villages
The Second Turkish War and the death of Potemkin
Art, architecture, and the bronze horseman
They are capable of hanging their king from a lamppost!
Dissent in Russia, final partition of Poland
Twilight
The death of Catherine the Great.

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