Detailed insights into the life of Peter the Great

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	• Peter the Great Robert K. Massie Ballantine Books, 1981 - 928 pages average customer review:based on 102 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Detailed insights into the life of Peter the Great

This is a rich, detailed examination of the life of Peter the Great. One almost gets a sense that his was a life characterized by ADHD--but with enough ability and imagination and focus that the almost out of control energy worked to his homeland's benefit.

This book examines in considerable depth the arc of his life, from childhood and the dangers that he faced, to his play warrior simulations, to his journey abroad, to his desire to reshape Russia as a more modern nation. Well told is his zeal to create a Russian navy that would be a force. From his childhood on, he was fascinated with this thought. The book recalls how his childhood imaginings developed until, indeed, he had developed a navy that was able to project Russian power.

His learning to be a soldier is also told well. He had ups and downs as a military leader. Part III of the book details dreadful losses and an ultimate triumph over the Swedish forces at Poltava.

Then there is his desire to create a new capital city, a city to be the envy of the world. The book outlines the many struggles and challenges in the creation of St. Petersburg.

The reader will feel almost exhausted by the end, as a result of the great ambitions, the enormous energy, the prodigious accomplishments of Peter the Great. The book balances well his failures with his triumphs and provides a nuanced view of this important historical figure.

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Very enjoyable biography

I've just finished reading this book in 2 weeks - mainly when i'm commuting to and from work. There's very little i can add to the positive reviews. This is one biography that reads like an action-packed novel. Here's what i enjoy most about this book:

1. It's written in a very engaging manner. I breezed through all 900pages of the story not wanting to stop. Having read some shorter historical biographies where my interest ran out less than halfway through the book, this really says a lot about this book and its author. Robert Massie had stucked to the facts and yet narrated them in a way that was never boring.

2. You not only learn about Peter the great as a person - warts and all, you also get to know many luminaries of early 18th century Europe. E.g. the warrior-like King Charles XII of Sweden (Peter's archrival of the Great Northern War), William of Orange, King George I just to name a few. The narratives on these person are threaded together as part of Peter's life story and are no less interesting than that about Peter himself.

3. One gets a feel of what life was like in Europe at that time because the author described in detail the various places that Peter lived in, e.g. his beloved St Petersburg, Paris which Peter visited during his second grand tour of Europe, London/Amsterdam which Peter visited in his first grand tour.

After finishing the book you feel that you've learnt a great deal about Peter (the Tsar and person) as well as the stage (Europe from late 1600s to 1720s) on which he performed. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in history.

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History comes alive

Much like Pierre Berton's great Canadian history books, Robert Massie brings history to the "people" with Peter The Great. In this long but highly readable biography, Massie illumimates the distant past of a backward nation which grew into a major European power under the energetic Peter. We read about the palace intrigues in the Kremlin in Peter's early years, his rise to power, and his historic trip "incognito" through Holland, Austria and England. A major part of this book is devoted to the Great Northern War with Sweden, and the fascinating character of Swedish king Charles XII. I knew very little about that attempted invasion of Russia, and Massie paints a vivid picture of the Swedish campaign. The author also brings us inside the Ottoman Empire and the life of the Sultans and Grand Viziers. He puts Peter's life in context with the greater world and shifting alliances of Europe.

The brutish nature of life in Russia in this era is not glossed over. So many labourers died in the construction of Peter's centrepiece city St. Petersburg, and the cruel punishments of the time are depicted. Overall, this is the type of historical biography they don't write anymore. History can be and should be written to appeal to a broader audience, and also to tell things as they were, without resorting to revisionism. Books such as this encourage readers to explore history more.

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960 Pages and I didn't Want It To End

What a treat this book was to read. Robert Massie demonstrates an ability at biography to a level I had never before experienced, though a huge portion of my reading is in fact biography. Truly amazing is the level of detail and background, which is somehow seamlessly spun into fibers, into yarns, and into a rich textile of thoughts and events sweeping through Russian and world drama by the fluid hand of Mr. Massie. He is with no exaggeration a master of his craft. I suppose this is why the book has earned a Pulitzer prize.

Not only is the worth of the author a call for every historically curious person to swim eagerly through this work, but so do the very facts of the account examined create among the richest stories available in history for any author to weave into narrative. It just so happens that here we have a wonderful and rich history handled by an unusually able story teller.

Peter The Great is such a curious character that one might consider such a collection of ability, insight, temper, and crushingly wielded power more the subject of a novel before thinking him one who walked the Earth, leaving his mark forever impressed upon Russia until the modern day.

It was Peter who pulled Russia kicking and screaming from the dark ages. It was Peter who created the Russian Navy from nothing (actually it is said from a single rotten sailboat). It was Peter who created Russia's first standing professional army. How? From the ranks of children with whom he played army as a child himself. He grew, they grew, and they became the core of the new Russian army. This by the way is a brutal and captivating tread of the story in its own right.

The book is riddled with such accounts, rendered in a degree of detail as to leave you simply awestruck and immersed in your own transported imagination. This to the point of regretting the arrival of that last of its many polished and engrossing pages.

This is truly a wonderful display of scholarship, of factual organization, and of rich story telling. This book is absolutely perfect for those with a mind, seeking to have it engaged.

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My favorite history book

I love to read history and have numerous books about many people and events that happened throughout history. But this book has to be my absolute favorite. Peter the Great was an amazing person and led a life without one dull moment. Once you start reading this book it will be difficult to put it down. Even though he did not live into old age, he lived a life full of adventure and you will never be bored while reading this book. You will find that Peter the Great is one of the best leaders of all times and I often wonder how Russian history would have evolved if Peter had lived to be eighty. It is too bad the man cannot be cloned.

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