Catherine the Great
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Admired for her achievements and satirized for her personal life, Catherine the Great was one of the most celebrated monarchs in history, turning eighteenth-century Russia into arguably the largest and most powerful state since the fall of the Roman Empire. She promoted radical political ideas while emphasizing moderation in government. She could be ruthless when necessary, but she charmed everyone she met, joking at private dinner parties in the Hermitage, which she had built for her own use. Determined to endear herself to the Russians, she made religious devotions in which she never believed. Intimate and revealing, Catherine the Great examines the lifelong friendships that sustained the empress throughout her personal life and places her within the context of the royal court: its politics, its flourishing literature and the very culture that became central to her exercise of absolute power. David Keymer - Library Journal A minor princess from the German backwater of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine the Great parlayed a loveless marriage into rule after her unattractive husband, Peter III, was deposed in a bloodless coup. Six months later, Peter was dead, strangled by the brother of a court favorite. (There is no evidence that Catherine colluded in his murder.) Intelligent and energetic, Catherine was influenced by Montesquieu, Beccaria, and the English jurist Blackstone and soon set about reforming her backward empire. A patron of the arts and letters, she corresponded with Voltaire, d'Alembert, and Diderot. Her attempts to lighten the burden on the Russian serfs failed, but she improved domestic administration and established a permanent footprint in the West when the last parts of independent Poland were absorbed into Russia in 1795. Dixon effectively details the minutiae of court life, explicating the importance of display in signaling imperial power. He doesn't slight Catherine's numerous affairs but notes that she didn't confuse affairs of the heart with affairs of state. This admirable biography elucidates aspects of Catherine's life-both what she did and did not achieve in a long and colorful reign-and is warmly recommended for both specialists and readers new to the subject.
