Robert K. Massie

A barbarous, volatile feudal tsar with a taste for torture; a progressive and enlightened reformer of government and science; a statesman of vision and colossal significance: Peter the Great embodied the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Russia while being at the very forefront of her development.Robert K Massie's award-winning study remains the essential portrait of the man and his era.

His Life and World

Peter the Great

Jeni Enjaian

If I could give half stars (hint...goodreads, get with the program :D) I would give this book 3.5 stars. It was average but on the good side of average.

First, I'm glad that I knew the subtitle "His Life and World." This book was much more than a biography of Peter the Great. Massie spent a lot of time on the "World" part of that subtitle. This is part of why I wasn't quite as infatuated with this book as I had hoped.

Second, Massie creates a fluent, well-structured narrative that despite the book's other flaws, keeps a reader engaged and reading all 855 pages.

Third, the little side trips like the summary of the life of William of Orange, were interesting...at first. As the narrative progressed and Massie spends more time on Charles of Sweden-his life and battle campaigns-I became increasingly disinterested. Peter the Great had a fascinating enough life to fill those 800 pages without supplementing the narrative with a mini-biography of Charles.

Fourth, Massie spends an overwhelming amount of text on the Great Northern War and other military campaigns that Peter and Charles participated in at the expense of the massive political and social changes that Peter instituted.

Fifth, the narrative follows a general chronological path, especially towards the beginning. As the book progressed and Massie became increasingly distracted by the various military campaigns, the chapters become increasingly segmented in theme. Thus, these chapters frequently include backtracking. This makes it difficult to place the various monumental social and political changes that Peter wrought within the overall timeline both of Peter's life and of the military campaigns. This is the point that bothered me the most, the point that kept me from giving this four stars. When it came to the last chapter about all the cultural changes I found it difficult to interpret because much of it backtracked and then fast-forwarded to get to the end of Peter's life.

Overall, this is a fairly decent biography of Peter the Great. I may even end up adding it to my library. It could have been written better though. If you have the time to devote to a book this large, it's worth it.

Peter the Great His Life and World

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