Peter the Great

Rating:
Summary: terrific!
Review: A fascinating biography of a bizarre man, brilliant and blind, great and evil at the same time. Every page has an amazing fact or two in a work of scholarly depth that nevertheless is so well written and translated that it reads like a suspense novel.

Rating:
Summary: another good one by henri troyat
Review: peter the great is a book about an autocrat with big ideas, the power to instigate them, and the total lack of understanding about what these powers and ideas caused his people. he overtaxed them, enforced his own ideas and desires (which changed daily some times), and instituted his powers unmercifully. people didn't know from one minute to the next if their heads were secure. this was everyone from his own son to the lowest serf in the land. however, he was a man who was far-sighted, interested in everything, and tried to bring some enlightenment to everyone he ruled. he was also a man of many excesses, i.e., women, liquor, power, and many human failings the worst of which was lack of sympathy for anybody or anything. it was all or nothing as far as he was concerned. henri troyat does it again with an in-depth biography of one of history's truly fascinating monarchs.

Rating:
Summary: synthsyren
Review: Peter the Great, by Henri Troyat, is the excellent recreation of a crucial era in Russian history. Troyat paints a picture of Peter and his life. Peter overcame the odds as a young czar battling for his power with his half-brother Ivan, and half-sister Sophia. Peter became sole czar when he was in his twenties and started living out all of his ambitions. He built the first Russian navy, and also built St. Petersburg, which he began from nothing. His love for war and the sea led him to fight against Sweden for a large part of his life and eventually win a long coastline on the Baltic Sea. For his contributions to Russia, his labors, and his greatness in politics and battle, Peter the Great, "emperor of the Russians," is still considered a hero, even today.