UNITED STATES AUTHOR · HISTORY · BIOGRAPHY
Robert K. Massie
Also known as: Robert Kinloch Massie III, ROBERT K. MASSIE
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.
AROUND MOSCOW, the country rolls gently up from the rivers winding in silvery loops across the pleasant landscape.
— from Peter the Great, 1969
Most acclaimed
Catherine the Great
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.
Peter the Great
1969
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.
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