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Review
"In her splendid new biography, Lindsey Hughes deconstructs these mythic images and brings us closer to the true face of the Tsar." Orlando Figes, Sunday Telegraph; "This book will likely become a standard for scholars and students who want a short but comprehensive account of Peter the Great." Publishers Weekly"
Kevin Sharpe, The Sunday Times, 1 September 2002
'[an] excellent biography'.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a very good biography of Peter the Great. Although the book runs to only c.250 pages (of which the last 50 relate to the legacy and memory of Peter) the book covers all the main episodes and events in the life of Peter.
Where Hughes' work lacks the in-depth coverage of battles, conflict and personal relationships (where Robert Massie's masterpiece excels) it more than makes up for it with excellent descriptions of the legal and institutional reform instigated by Peter.
The style is more scholarly than literary, and only one map is provided.
Format:Paperback
This is a well-written book that tells the story of the legendary Russian Czar and an era in ways that few other books have been able to door. It is written with a deep appreciation of facts and flows smoothly.Peter The Great's personality is well describes, his travels well told, his goals well articulated and the challenges he faced trying to realize them well exposed. I ended up knowing more about Russia,its history, culture and mind set in ways that I never imagined before and set me on the path of looking for other works that explain Russia to a foreigner better. It led me to The Union Moujik,The Master and the Marguarita. What we see as divisions in Russia today, or the broader Eastern Slavs are well explained.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Good Introduction
18 Feb 2003
Format:Hardcover
Overall a very nice, concise account of the life of Peter the Great. A very good introduction to those who wish to learn about this period of Russian history but have little starting background. I did think the last chapter which focuses on monuments to Peter since his death was a little dry and could easily have been edited out without affecting the overall quality of the book
5 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Scholarly jargon
6 Feb 2005
Format:Hardcover
This book is good for historians, no doubt, but probably not the the rest of the people, like me. I read paragraphs without knowing what I read, and it's hard to glean any interesting information. Consider, for example, this paragraph:
"In an attempt to recover Russia's prestige, gain a stronger bargaining position with the allies and ward off Turkish attacks on Ukraine, in 1695 Peter reopened hostilities ina campaign against the Turkist coastal fort of Azov at the mouth of the River Don. He dispatched two armies, the joint force of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev and the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa to the Dnieper to delfect the Tartars from the mouth of the Don and a smaller unit consisting of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky guards and strel'tsy on river craft down the Don to Azov itself."
I understand it, but I am not excited by all this information. The description is just too dry for my taste. I am very interested in Peter the Great because I know he went around Europe, and even worked as a carpenter. I'll find another biography elsewhere.
"In an attempt to recover Russia's prestige, gain a stronger bargaining position with the allies and ward off Turkish attacks on Ukraine, in 1695 Peter reopened hostilities ina campaign against the Turkist coastal fort of Azov at the mouth of the River Don. He dispatched two armies, the joint force of Boris Petrovich Sheremetev and the Ukrainian hetman Ivan Mazepa to the Dnieper to delfect the Tartars from the mouth of the Don and a smaller unit consisting of the Preobrazhensky and Semenovsky guards and strel'tsy on river craft down the Don to Azov itself."
I understand it, but I am not excited by all this information. The description is just too dry for my taste. I am very interested in Peter the Great because I know he went around Europe, and even worked as a carpenter. I'll find another biography elsewhere.
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
A Great book
29 April 2008
Format:Paperback
The best single volume biograghy of Russia's Westernizing Tsar. If you don't want to spend weeks Reading Robert Massie's "Massive" tome, this is the book for you!
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