Customer Reviews

Catherine the Great : Life and Legend

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Alexander does a marvelous job retelling history without sensationalizing it. Many past biographers undertaking the job of writing about Catherine the Great have often focused too much on her sexuality, rather than her political prowess. John T. Alexander, however, thoroughly examines the political and cultural context of her life, and refuses to insult the reader's intelligence by dishing gossip or repeating long-held opinions. Having read four other biographies of Catherine the Great, I can assure you this one is probably the best. Impartial, informative, and interesting.

First of all, contrary to the review now on line, this book was not written by John T. Williams, whoever he is, but by John T. Alexander. This biography is a much more serious and learned biography than Henri Troyat's, which I read in 1987. This book has dull parts, but the story it tells is an incredible one. Catherine had an amazing career, and of course her parade of favorites is legendary. I found this book to be good academic history and it well deserves reading.

This is a good book to read to get a handle on the reign of Catherine the Great and late 18th C. Russia. Alexander covers the court intrigues, the attempts at reform, the complexities of foreign policy. He also avoids treating Catherine's personal life in a sensationalistic way.

So if you read this book, you will learn a lot. On the other hand, the book doesn't really come to life in the way Massie's "Peter the Great" or Avrich's "Russian Rebels" did. It is recommended only to those with a serious interest in the time of Catherine, such as students, and not the casual reader.

Some political leaders of the past continue to suffer from disparaging images which were unjustly created about them during their lifetimes. One such polictial leader was Catherine II Czarina of the Russian Empire from 1762 until her death in 1796. Her supposed sexual appitite has been much discussed and bantied about by later historians who should have known better. Some of the most outrageous rumors have been taken as absolute fact regarding the life of Catherine. History as a discipline and area of investigation and study has been the worse for this tendency.

John T. Williams has successfully chased down the source of many of the rumors that surround Catherine II. Many times he finds that the rumors were intentionally started by British intelligence services of that day. Prior to the Napoleonic Wars, the Russian Empire was a traditional ally of France. Because of the rivaly between Britain and France, Russia was often at odds with British interests. Moreover, Russian expansion in Asia brought Russian and British interests into conflict over India, Afganistan and Turkey. Consequently, she being the head of a competing empire, Catherine was the natural target for rumor mongering by the British government. However, for an accurate historical record, William's book does a great service.

Historians have a duty to history as a discipline, to investigate sources. Catherine's life has long needed a worthy study to take on the emmense task of sorting out fact from fiction. John T. Williams has done a very fine job in performing this task.

As some of the other reviewers have opined, this book is somewhat of a difficult read. It waxes and wanes at holding the reader's interest. Some sections of the book are truly exciting while others become tedious from excessive lists of names and mundane details.

On the other hand, if you are a student of Russian history, there will be a significant gap in your knowledge if you don't struggle through it.

I have read several books on the history of Russia, like Peter the Great, and the Romanovs, but this book frankly bored me. The author definetly knows his stuff about Catherine, but I got so tired of reading about all the political stuff in this book. I wanted to know more about her personal life, more details about her comings and goings, not about how she ruled her Russian cabinet officers. Also the use of vocabulary was way over my head, so it made it hard to enjoy reading because many times I needed to get the dictionary, and I feel I have a fairly good vocabulary. I would not recommend this book unless you want to know about Russian administration in her time.

I have read history books more interesting than this book. When i purchased the book i thought that it would be an interesting work. The book started off interesting. Then, as it progressed it got worse. Rent the movie. It would be much better. Trust me.