Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman Book Reviews

AUTHOR
Robert K. Massie
SCORE
4
TOTAL RATINGS
859

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Book Summary

“[A] tale of power, perseverance and passion . . . a great story in the hands of a master storyteller.”—The Wall Street Journal

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 German princess who became 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. 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.
 
“[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek

“An absorbing, satisfying biography.”—Los Angeles Times
 
“Juicy and suspenseful.”—The New York Times Book Review

“A great life, indeed, and irresistibly told.”—Salon

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 • Newsweek/The Daily Beast • Salon • Vogue • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Providence Journal • Washington Examiner • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • BookPage • Bookreporter • Publishers Weekly

BONUS: This edition contains a Catherine the Great reader's guide.

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Book Name Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman
Genre Biographies & Memoirs
Published
Language English
E-Book Size 18.08 MB

Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman (Robert K. Massie) Book Reviews 2024

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Catherine the Great. Massie is a terrific author. He makes history read like prose and I enjoyed the book. My problem is that Dreadnought, Nicholas & Alexandra, & Castles of Steel were vastly more engaging. It might be the subject or the story lines that seemed to meander downstream to a disconnect. We wandered into the French Revolution and the cameo appearance of John Paul Jones (I felt somewhat patronized when the author stated Americans might be surprised JP Jones wound up in Russia. At a time of great Russian expansion into Siberia and North America a little more on that topic would have been a logical inclusion. I was fortunate to meet the author on board QE2 about 13 years ago. He is personable and approachable and gives a terrific lecture. I look forward to more works by Mr. Massie.

Catherine...reality trumps idealism.. I heard about Catherine the Great from my mother who credited her with supporting Germans in Russia. Mom also told me Catherine abolished serfdom. Wow, was mom wrong on that score! Admittedly, Catherine, early in her reign, did attempt to address the issue if serfdom, but she soon buckled under pressure from the 1% (they preferred to keep their boots on the necks of the serfs) and the lack of cohesion of the 99% (too may issues, too little agreement). Hmmm. Sounds familiar. In any case, Massie's massive biography reveals a woman who knew how to grab power and then how to use it. And in the process, she became the consummate monarch who enjoyed all the benefits taxation without representation could provide in imperial Russia. Her extravagance is astounding. At times, Massie gives us too much information, but in spite of its length, this is an engaging book for Russia enthusiasts. Still,I loved Nicholas and Alexandra more.

Catherine the Great. I would have easily given this book a 4 star rating...except that I found nearly a dozen typos. As a consumer I find it insulting that the editor has not bothered to do a thorough proof read, this is very basic and ultimately very sad.

Massie is no Erik Larson. The book reads like a dissertation, disconnected sentences that don't exactly create a narrative. It could have been half the size if the author didn't lift full paragraphs and repeated them in the following pages and kept doing it though out the book. I gave the book more stars than it probably deserves because I enjoyed learning about the subject. The book was certainly thoroughly researched.

DSW’sx. Se cry nat

Intriguing and fascinating. Reads like a novel, well written. My only critique would be maps references for locations, while there are maps at the beginning of the book, for the ebooks it would be easy to add a link to the maps for easy reference

Catherine the Great. Such a reading pleasure!

Magnificent masterpiece. As a foreigner who lived in Russia for years, one of my greatest interests regarding the country lies in its history. Massie is truly a master of colourful language and faithful attitudes towards history. This is a serious book about history, yet never lacks of attracting details and story lines.

Catherine. Wise, elegant, formidable, royal, powerful, respected. Her cultural management and leadership character should be studied and applied to current world application. Catherine the Great is HEROIC !

Catherine the Great. This was an outstanding historical work of non-fiction that reads like a salacious novel. After a slow start, I found it difficult to put down. The research was evident and put the sequence of events within the context of other issues, culture and action of the day. Use of language served to expand the vocabulary. Proves that history can be more exciting fiction and left me poised to read of the historical novels by this author. Overall, a great read.

Catherine the Great. Fall in love with this very well written story of a fascinating and impressive Russian legend!

Fantastic Read. Catherine the Great is a fascinating historical figure and this book is a great introduction. It is easy to read, the timeline is straight forward and easy to follow. Massie’s writing style is crisp and moves along at a brisk pace. I read this book in about a week and a half. From her humble beginnings, conniving mother and the erratic nobles of the imperial court, through the plagues, wars, love affairs and vast improvements in quality of life she brought to her people, this book brought this historical figure to life and made this period in history very real to me. Loved it!

Mike Tennant. Fantastic. Factual and entertaining, I found myself looking to book a vacation to St Petersburg just to see some of the wonders described in the book. Truly a remarkable leader who loved her country

Loved it!. I love historical novels and this was great. Definite recommend.

It has it's good moments. Exhaustively researched, the book is interesting but just too long. I enjoyed the first third, then started to skim a bit, and went very quickly through the final two hundred pages. I have read many biographies of Catherine II; this ranks near the top. A good editor would have cut several hundred pages and ended up with a fabulous book.

Good. I am 1/3 of the way and I like it. I'll give it 4 stars and maybe if the other 2/3 are good...

Catherine the Great: A portrait of a woman. An excellent read. I have enjoyed reading about the life of Catherine the Great and in an odd way feel connected to her. I didn't want the book to end. Thanks to Robert Massie for telling Catherine's story in such a magnificent way.

Entertaining & Informative. I really enjoyed 90% of this book, and typically I am not interested in history. There were a few chapters toward the end that I skimmed because it was too much information for me. I'm very glad I read this book!

Catherine the Great. Very good book with storylines, history and good flow and fun to read. I loved it and stayed with its 800 pages.

Catherine the Great. The best epic story ever written. 5 star

Catherine the Great. Splendid biography of a fascinating woman and a darn good read. It's like you were there with her on a white horse leading the Russian Army. Referencing numerous letters and writings gives her biography added weight and truth. This book is so alive!

Fascinating life. The legends and myths surrounding Catherine the Great has become synonymous with her name. It is refreshing to read a biography that is not only factually accurate, but also quite entertaining. Sometimes life is stranger than fiction. Truly one of notable books of the year.

A real page turner or... Should I say real finger flicker as I flicked my finger to read this book on my iPad. I always wanted to read more about Catherine the Great and this book finally fulfilled my purpose. It's also a fascinating window into the 18th century Europe. I just wish the author's previously works on Peter the Great and others will also be available on iBook.

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Summary of Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie

The Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman book written by Robert K. Massie was published on 08 November 2011, Tuesday in the Biographies & Memoirs category. A total of 859 readers of the book gave the book 4 points out of 5.

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