Robert K. Massie
Personal Information
Description
Born in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1929, Robert K. Massie studied history at Yale University and Oxford University before embarking on" a highly successful career as writer and editor. Among the publications with which the author has been associated are Newsweek, USA-1, The Saturday Evening Post, The Reporter, Saturday Review, The New York Times Magazine, and The New York Times Book Review. Mr. Massie currently lives in Irvington, New York, with his wife and three children. The affliction of the author's young son by hemophilia inspired Mr. Massie's interest in the tragic drama of Nicholas and Alexandra, whose son also was stricken with the disease. This factor, as many reviewers have commented, gives this brilliant work an added dimension of human understanding rare in the writing of history.
Books
Peter the Great
Peter the Great is one of the dominating personalities of early modern Europe. During his reign (1682/89-1725) Russia emerged from semi-Asiatic isolation on the remote fringes of the western world to become a great political and military power in her own right, and, for the first time, a principal actor on the European stage. The study does full justice to Peter's extraordinary contribution to the development of Russia - his determination to westernize the country; to furnish it with the means of self-defence; to change drastically its religious and educational institutions; to give it a voice in European affairs; and to create a new capital city - Peter's "window on the West" - of unprecedented splendour. The portrait of the Tsar that emerges is impressive but not attractive. Peter's energy and vision were matched by his brutality in public affairs, a lack of human affection in his private relationships, and the coarseness of his personal behaviour. The darker side of both man and monarch is fully acknowledged here. Yet, when the failures and failings have been taken into account, and the accretions of historical myth-making stripped away, it remains a formidable life; and Matthew Anderson does it full justice in this admirable study.
Dreadnought
Describes the diplomatic minuets and military brinkmanship as Germany grew to be a continental superpower at the end of the nineteenth century and became a threat to Great Britain's naval superiority and isolationist policies.
Catherine the Great
Nicholas and Alexandra
"A LARGER THAN LIFE DRAMA, SO BIZARRE, SO HEART-RENDING AND, ABOVE ALL, SO APOCALYPTIC, THAT NO NOVELIST WOULD HAVE DARED INVENT IT" —Saturday Review Syndicate The story of the Tsar, his Empress, and the realm they lost. The story of a man, a woman, and the love they shared—and of the obscene monk, Rasputin, who corrupted and destroyed them. "A WONDERFULLY RICH TAPESTRY, the colors fresh and clear, every strand sewn in with a sure hand. Mr. Massie describes those strange and terrible years with sympathy and understanding . . . they come vividly before our eyes" —N.Y. Times "A MAGNIFICENT AND INTIMATE PICTURE . . . Not only the main characters but a whole era become alive and comprehensible" —Harper's Magazine With 16 pages of rare photographs