Great Catherine: The Life of Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia - Softcover

Erickson, Carolly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0312135033 ISBN 13: 9780312135034

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin, 1995

Synopsis

From the moment the fourteen-year-old Princess Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst agreed to marry the heir to the Russian throne, she was mired in a quicksand of intrigue. Precociously intelligent, self-confident, and attractive but with a stubborn, wayward streak, Sophia withstood a degree of emotional battering that would have broken a weaker spirit until at last she emerged, triumphant over her many enemies, as Empress Catherine II of Russia.

Her achievements as empress were prodigious. She brought vast new lands under Russian rule. She raised the prestige of Russia in Europe. She began the process of imposing legal and political order on the chaos she inherited from her predecessors. Yet few historical figures have been so enthusiastically vilified as Catherine the Great. Whispers that she had ordered her husband's murder grew to murmurs that she was an immoral woman and finally to shouts that she was a depraved, lust-crazed nymphomaniac. With deft mastery of historical narrative and an unsurpassed ability to make the past live again, Carolly Erickson uncovers the real woman behind the tarnished image―an indomitable, feisty, often visionary ruler who, in an age of caveats and constraints, blithely went her own way.

Great Catherine reveals the complexities of this great ruler's nature, her craving for love, her insecurities, the inevitable sorrows and disappointments of a strong empress who dared not share her power with any man yet longed to be led and guided by a loving consort. Great Catherine is a fresh portrait of an infamous historical figure, one that reveals how Catherine's flawed triumph guaranteed her posthumous fame and enhanced the might and renown of Russia for generations to come.

About this title

About the Author:

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of Rival to the Queen, The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, The First Elizabeth, The Hidden Life of Josephine, The Last Wife of Henry VIII, and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Tsarina's Daughter won the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. She lives in Hawaii.

From AudioFile:

A neglected child and wife, Catherine seized the throne of Russia from her abusive, alcoholic husband and went on to rule her eighteenth-century empire with skills that would do credit to a twentieth-century CEO. Porter's strong voice leaves no doubt of Catherine's mettle and intelligence; it also powers a long narrative, little of which is broken by dialogue. Strong diction and dramatic pronunciation of words like "gleaming" and "lashing" illuminate scenes of court life, amorous intrigues, city squalor and peasant rebellion. At home with Russian names, Porter switches deftly from admiration for the empress to audible scorn for her enemies. A grand portrayal of a great lady. J.B.G. An AUDIOFILE Earphones Award Winner. (Reviewed in Feb 96): She decreed that her nobles desist from calling her the Great Most Wise Mother of the Fatherland. Catherine II, otherwise known as Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, seems almost modern in her independence, her voracious reading, her humanity, her desire to codify the laws of the realm and her apparent sexual freedoms. Davina Porter's reading enhances this biography, which mimics a romantic, historical novel. Porter's narration is articulate and benefits from her mellifluous voice. While the first person is fairly rare in history books, she does a good job with it and with gender differentiation. The author's depiction of eighteenth-century Russian cities comes alive in Porter's narration. J.D.N. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine

About this edition

• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0312135033
• ISBN 13: 9780312135034
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 400