Rating: 
Summary: Balantine Books is Stealing!
Review: Robert K. Massie's writting is wonderfull, but the quality of the publishing is shamefull. This book is so shodily put together that the pages fall out as you turn the page! I could read the odd numbered pages in the book. But when I turned the page it came out in my hand, so I read the even numbered pages outside of the book. Inspite of the trouble with the book itself, I enjoyed the writting. The story of Peter the Great was well told and I learned things I never knew about the man and his country. I just would like a company with some professionalism to buy the writes to print it and print a copy of Mr. Massie's words that is worth buying. I went to "a major book store" in my area and the copies they had for sale were just as bad. Is a putting a copy of a book on the market that is so poorly crafted it can not stand up to a single reading stealing? It may not meet the criminal definition, but it sure fits the moral one; don't buy this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Sweeping Biography the Reads like a Great Novel
Review: Peter the Great is one of the most significant men in Russian history. The builder of the Russian navy, first leader to visit the great capitols of Europe, and the principle figure to bring western values to the empire, he also lead his nation to great military victories. It was never certain Peter would even become Tsar of Russia. And once on the throne, he faced significant threats, most of all from Regent Sophia. He did make it to the throne and outlived his co-tsar, Ivan. Peter's military campaigns began with the attack of the Turks at Azov. Their success lead Peter to dream of an empire with secure borders and a navy that could protect its holdings from the sea. Then came the Great Northern War - a 20 year fight with the empire of Sweden that saw an invasion of Russia and the real possibility of the fall of Moscow. But Peter's military preperation and world events worked in the Tsar's favor. His sucesses against Sweden thrust Peter and his empire onto the worls stage as a major player. But Peter's military victories were not his only sucesses. Against the will of the old aristrocracy, Peter lead the fight to reform many of the old ways of the empire, including those of the church. He also built the new city of St. Petersburg, which he made his new capitol.
Rating:
Summary: "It is impossible to describe him..."
Review: Perhaps no Russian leader has been as much of a driving force within his own nation and the world of his times than the Romanov Tsar who ruled Russia two centuries before our own: Peter the Great (1672-1725). In his Pulitzer Prize-winning biography "Peter the Great: His Life and World," historian Robert K. Massie masterfully chronicles the life of this mercurial, complex, and paradoxical man who became the greatest Tsar in Russian history, and perhaps one of the greatest figures in all of European history. Massie's brilliant narrative depicts Peter as a man who towered, both literally and figuratively, over his world. When he reached full adulthood, he stood six feet seven inches tall. He was a man possessed with many paradoxes... an absolute autocrat who disdained the glitter, trappings, and ceremonial pomp of his royal station, preferring instead a simpler, more unadorned lifestyle. Forced to abandon his formal education at an early age, he continued his education informally, becoming largely self taught and reasonably literate in the process. He derived his greatest pleasures from working with his hands. It was he who built, almost single-handedly, the first boats of what would eventually become the Russian navy; it was also he who laid the plans for, and personally built much of the Russian city which now bears his name: St. Petersburg. The main thrust of "Peter the Great: His Life and World" is not so much an examination of Peter's personal qualities (although Massie's portrayal of Peter the man is nothing short of masterful), but of how he used the force of his personality to transform Russia, during his lifetime, from a backward medieval kingdom of little consequence into a major European political and military power. Massie devotes the vast majority of Peter the Great to spin a highly detailed, absorbing, and wonderfully written narrative of the events which led to Peter's - and Russia's - evolution. From his "Great Embassy" at age eighteen, when he traveled incognito to all the major western European capitals (becoming the first Tsar to do so), to his numerous wars with the Ottoman Empire (present-day Turkey), to his ten-year long "Great Northern War" with Sweden and its king, Charles XII, Peter is seen as forcing the pace of events throughout Europe, thereby modernizing and expanding Russia and planting the seeds of future greatness for the nation he loved above all else. Robert K. Massie has continued his fine tradition of writing extremely readable, highly entertaining, and factually sound biographies. With "Peter the Great: His Life and World," he completely captures the essence of this towering eighteenth century figure, and does it in such a way as to make him totally relevant to today's readers. This is a biography that's indeed very well worth reading!
Rating:
Summary: Excellent, well written, and very interesting...
Review: The first time I picked up this book, I looked at the dauntingly large size of the book and was dismayed. However, upon closer inspection, I realized that this was not another dry description of another person in history. Rather, this biography on Peter the Great is written very well. It draws the interest of the reader, and at times is difficult to put down. The detail in which Massie describes the life of Peter the Great is amazing. I expected a biography, meaning a history of the life of one specific person, but I received a history of Europe at the time. In other words, if one is looking for an in depth look at Russia in the late 17th through mid 18th century, and an introduction to the history of all of Europe at the time, look no further. However, one must be forewarned that if they are seeking outlines of these different parts of Russian history, this is definitely not the book for them. Massie explores so many different things that it is difficult not to have learned something new about these times upon reading this book. I definitely recommend this book and hold it in high regard.
Rating:
Summary: Good some parts are more like a novel than history
Review: Before Peter the Great Russia was a backward kingdom. The predominant power in the north of Europe was Sweden. It controlled territory in what has become the Baltic States. Russia had not incorporated modern military technology and the power of the Czar was limited by the power of the nobles. Peter as a young man narrowly escaped death at the hands of his fathers bodyguard. These were a hereditary class. On taking power he had them killed. He grew up with a keen desire to destroy the old system. To do this he had to re-make the entire Russian order. What he did was to create a table of ranks which meant that everyone in Russia had a defined legal position but owed the state obligations. This enabled him to increase the revenue available to him and to start to build a modern army. He introduced the flintlock into Russia to replace the matchlock. He hired Europeans to train and drill his army so that it could compete with the European powers. He then started a war with Sweden. Initially Russia suffered a number of defeats but eventually he was able to defeat the Swedes at the battle of Poltva and remove them from Northern Europe. He also moved the capital of Russia to the Baltic creating he city of Petrograd. He created the state which conquered one of he largest empires of all time under his successors. A book on this subject could not fail to be interesting. Peter's life however was like something out of a soap opera. One of the more interesting parts is how he coped with finding that his wife was not a virgin when he married her and he also executed his son. He was clearly an alcoholic and some of the accounts of his diplomatic missions are highly amusing. Although not an academic history a fascinating account of a time in history which most have forgotten.
Rating:
Summary: Biography at its best
Review: This is the most fascinating, fast-paced and thoroughly researched biography I have read in a long time! While depicting this intelligent, practical, and often unsensitive and cruel man, Mr. Massie has also succeeded in portraying for us the complex, war-ridden and changing times in which he lived. He depicts the rapaciousness of contemporary politics, the miseries and hardships of war, the greed of the rich and powerful... but without unnecessary sentimentalism, and without (as far as I could ascertain) straying from historical fact. His human subject remains interesting and many-faceted to the end. In writing this great and ambitious book, Mr. Massie has given us a work of epical dimensions.
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Summary: They do not come better
Review: Recuperating from illness at the house of an American friend in New Delhi. I discovered this book tucked away in his library. My bedridden days flew by as I became engrossed in one of the best biographies I have read in a long time What a magnificent attempt at describing the life and time of a truly remarkable individual like Peter the Great. Mr Massie presents the historical fact in a clear and concise manner without sacrificing detail. The work is both rewarding for serious history students as well as those of us after a good read. Indeed the charm of this book is that it reads like a real page turning novel. The reader get a wonderful insight right trough the book of what life in Russia was like in the 17th century not just for a Tsar but for the common people as well Loads of little anecdotes and commentaries colour the story without obscuring it. This is a story of awakening ,will to power and courage - Of a man and a nation - par excellance . The book starts with the context that Peter was born into. A Russia still very much steeped in the deep middle ages of superstition and religious fundamentalism. His father Tsar Alexis and the his mother Tsaritsa Natalya doted on him as well as his sickly half brother Ivan ( his later co Tsar until he died at age 29) and from the very beginning the young prince showed that he was made of special stuff. The untimely death of his father, his days at Preobrazhenskoe playing soldier as a boy( the Preobrazhenskoe regiment was the automatic regiment that all Tsars belonged to until 1917 following in the tradition started by Peter) as well as the Strelsky revolt that nearly saw him and his mother slaughtered by the palace guards gets illuminated as the main formative events in the young princes life. Peters contact with Dutch ship builders in Russia ( he initially thought they were German - all foreigners were Germans to Russians in those days) set the course for possibly his greatest achievement - The setting up of the Russian navy from literally nothing at all to a force rivalling Sweden and Denmark in the Baltic Sea. This chance meeting on the Russian steppes that had such enormous repercussion for Russia finally gets the historical attention it deserves in this book. The Great Embassy to the West and especially Peters time in Amsterdam is described in detail. There he not just perfected his shipbuilding but also came into contact with Renaissance scientists and philosophers as well as an enlightened monarchy. This changed the man and the course of Russia forever. His lifelong duel with Charles XII from Sweden is a fascinating read right down to the latter's final defeat at Poltava. Peters death and it's consequences also receives attention from the author. A biography is as much about a person legacy in Death as in Life and Mr Massie understands that very well Very important is that this book represents Peter as he was. A violent man at times and when circumstance demanded even brutal but always purposeful, never the wasteful madness of Ivan IV. He achieved remarkable things in a short space of time but he was also guilty of actions that were effective in its results but with methods most decent people in our time can only condemn. (torture was an effective political instrument in Peters eyes) Luckily he is not judged by the author according to 20th century Anglo Saxon morals as often happens in these type of books . Can we really honestly look at the splendour of St Petersburg and blame him for the thousands of Swedish prisoners of war he worked to death to build a Jewel on a swamp. Again the troubling recognition that history cares more for results than the moral modes of a given time confronts us in these pages. For almost a half a century the story of Russia is the story of Peter Alexeivich. - read it, I cannot recommend it more than five stars allow.
Rating:
Summary: Superb!
Review: Massie is an incredible author and here he does not disappoint. His keen eye for detail and his knack for description make his writings all the more readable. Peter the Great was a strange man and had numerous quirks. However he was in fact a great leader and brought Russia into center stage in the modern world of his time. His love for ships and mind of war made him the great man that he was. I would highly recommend this for anyone who has a desire to learn Russian history. It is truly a fascinating book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book!
Review: Possibly the best biography I have read.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This book is absorbing to the point that you have withdrawals when you are done reading it. It is an instant classic chronicalling not only the Russia that Peter inherited and changed, but also the European and middle eastern empires of the time. Peter is a very interesting and important person as was this time in the history of the world. This book puts you in the middle of the massive social and economic changes that Peter the great made to bring Russia into the modern european world. The interactions between Peter and his people and the struggles that they fought is enough to make this a great book but the deep coverage of the details makes it an excellent book to read.
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