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Peter the Great: His Life and World
Peter the Great: His Life and World | Robert K. Massie
6 posts | 13 read | 9 to read
PULITZER PRIZE WINNER An urgently readable (Newsweek) biography of the captivating tsar who changed Russian historyfrom the New York Times bestselling author of Nicholas and Alexandra, The Romanovs, and Catherine the Great Enthralling . . . as fascinating as any novel and more so than most.The New York Times Book Review Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia unfolds the magnificent story of Peter the Great, crowned co-tsar at the age of ten. Robert K. Massie delves deep into his life, chronicling the pivotal events that shaped a boy into a legendincluding his incognito travels in Europe, his unquenchable curiosity about Western ways, his obsession with the sea and establishment of the stupendous Russian navy, his creation of an unbeatable army, his transformation of Russia, and his relationships with those he loved most: Catherine, the robust yet gentle peasant, his loving mistress, wife, and successor; and Menshikov, the charming, bold, unscrupulous prince who rose to wealth and power through Peters friendship. Impetuous and stubborn, generous and cruel, tender and unforgiving, a man of enormous energy and complexity, Peter the Great is brought fully to life.
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review
GinaKButler
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Just finished my first chunkster of the year and I really enjoyed it. As with most historical non-fiction, I realized just how much I never learned in school and my TBR got longer. I‘m definitely going to read the rest of the Romanov series by this author!

@Amiable @Kelly326
#chunksterchallenge2024

Amiable Fabulous! 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼 8mo
25 likes1 comment
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GinaKButler
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End of February check-in on my #chunksterchallenge2024 book. I‘m more than 2/3s in and should finish mid-March. Peter has met and married Catherine. He has finally defeated Sweden (there has been a lot of war in this past section) and the European stage has been changing. Peter is now turning his attention on who will be his heir, and the obvious choice is a dismal disappointment. So many interesting tidbits in this book! @Amiable

Amiable I‘m so glad you are find it a worthwhile read! 9mo
16 likes1 comment
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GinaKButler
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#chunksterchallenge2024 check in: I‘m 360 pages in and it‘s outstanding. We‘ve seen his rise to the throne (and overthrowing his sister), his “incognito” tour of Europe in hopes of westernizing Russia, building a navy, defeating the Turks…and now turning their attention on Sweden and founding St Petersburg. Put this on your list. Massie is fantastic!
@Amiable

dabbe I did! Thanks for the rec! 🤩 10mo
Amiable I‘ve got this one on my e-reader —thanks for previewing it for me! 😀 10mo
19 likes1 stack add2 comments
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GinaKButler
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Our 1st Quarter Chunkster for the #chunksterchallenge2024

We‘ve read biographies of American presidents the past few years and are pivoting to Russia.

Thank you for hosting, Amy!

@Amiable @Kelly326
#bookspinbingo

Amiable I have this one in my pile so I‘m looking forward to hearing your thoughts on it! 11mo
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Amiable
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@GinaKButler @CoverToCoverGirl Another one to add to future #ChunksterChallenge lists! It‘s 900+ pages.

bookishdawg Massie is a wonderful writer 👍🏻 2y
Amiable @bookishdawg That‘s good to hear—especially when you have 900 pages to get through. 😀 2y
CoverToCoverGirl Thanks for sharing and helping me grow my TBR list. 🦋🙂 2y
See All 11 Comments
Amiable @CoverToCoverGirl Always happy to share the Chunkster love! 😀 2y
KCofKaysville @Amiable Loved this book many years ago. Taught me quite a bit of Russian history 2y
Amiable @KCofKaysville Excellent! It‘s on my list for a future Chunkster Challenge. 👍🏼 2y
GinaKButler Ohh...I‘ve read Nicholas and Alexandria by him. It was fantastic! 2y
GinaKButler ...and, I was recently telling @Kelly326 that I‘d like to read more about Catherine the Great. Looks like he has a biography about her as well. 2y
Amiable @GinaKButler It looks like “Nicholas and Alexandra” is #3 in the series —I‘m going to have to read them in order! I‘m OCD like that. 😬😀 (edited) 2y
Kelly326 Nice… next year @GinaKButler. 2y
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review
LibraryCin
Panpan

I should start by mentioning that I listened to the audio. It was very very long. And boring. At least, the entire long middle section about warring with Sweden (or Tsweden, as pronounced by the narrator – like tsar; and unfortunately, we also got words like tsea and tsince), just isn‘t all that interesting to me, so I tuned out. Cont in comments...

LibraryCin The stuff about Peter‘s family life and Russian architecture – that held my interest a bit more, but not by much, unfortunately. But, oh my god – listening to that guy pronounce many words starting with ‘s‘ as if they start with ‘ts‘ - gaaahh!. Cont in next comment... 7y
LibraryCin I should also add that I do find the history/biography of women more interesting to start with. Also, I seem to prefer female narrators – not all the time in either case, but often. So, all those factors may have lessened my interest in this one 7y
6 likes2 comments