- Hardcover: 672 pages
- Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (Oct 2001)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0312278152
- ISBN-13: 978-0312278151
- Product Dimensions: 26.1 x 18.9 x 4.6 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,188,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
Catherine The Great & Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
For most of the 20th century Grigory Potemkin has existed as no more than an entertaining side-show for Russian historians. And make no mistake--he is very entertaining; in the Russian royal court of Catherine the Great that was noted for its sexual promiscuity, Potemkin stood out as the libertine par excellence. Although his affair with Catherine only lasted a couple of years, after which he moved on to a succession of nieces and became Catherine's procurer-in-chief, Potemkin remained the love of her life and remained a powerful figure at court. In his new doorstop of a biography, Simon Sebag-Montefiore aims to show that Potemkin is much more than a historical divertissement and is instead one of the central figures of political influence in 18th-century Russia--and by and large he succeeds. Sebag-Montefiore refutes the image of the paper tiger who erected cardboard villages along the banks of Dnieper to convince Catherine that the colonisation of the Ukraine was continuing apace, and instead credits him as the architect for the cities of Odessa and Sebastapol that emerged out of his Great Plan to secure the Crimea--and hence a southern coastline--for Russia. At times, one feels that perhaps Sebag-Montefiore doth protest too much and that he pushes his claims for Potemkin too far. But this is more than compensated for by his enthusiasm. Many historians these days write with a jaded eye, looking to debunk popular heroes; Sebag-Montefiore aims to do the opposite and he has combined his journalist's eye for a good story with an academic's attention to research and detail to create a highly readable biography which is accessible even to those who know little of the period. --John Crace
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Product Description
Antony and Cleopatra. Napoleon and Josephine. To these great love affairs that helped change history must be added the lesser-known known, but just as influential couple: Catherine the Great of Russia and Grigory Potemkin. The name 'Potemkin' is best-known today for a battleship mutiny at the time of the Russian revolution, rather than as the one-eyed, fat, vain, autocratic lover of Russia's Empress Catherine, the only man she treated as an equal, who commanded her armies, helped her rule the country and develop the Russian empire. POTEMKIN's life is about power, lust and love, as enthralling a love story as any fiction. Born of a loveless marriage, he worked his way up through the ranks of the Russian army. He first met the Empress Catherine while he was on guard duty in St Petersburg. German-born, she was married at fourteen for dynastic reasons, but her marriage was never consummated. She took a procession of lovers, but showed the longest fidelity to Potemkin. The thousands of letters he and Catherine exchanged (often several times each day) are one of the sources of Simon Sebag Montifiore's new biography.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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First Sentence
Shortly before noon on 5 October 1791, the slow cavalcade of carriages, attended by liveried footmen and a squadron of Cossacks in the uniform of the Black Sea Host, stopped halfway down a dirt track on a desolate hillside in the midst of the Bessarabian steppe. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Shortly before noon on 5 October 1791, the slow cavalcade of carriages, attended by liveried footmen and a squadron of Cossacks in the uniform of the Black Sea Host, stopped halfway down a dirt track on a desolate hillside in the midst of the Bessarabian steppe. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
21 of 21 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
Potemkin is nowadays mostly known in the expression "Potemkin village", describing achievements that are basically a sham.
In reality Potemkin was a fascinating character responsible for a great number of very real achievements. Very Russian in a lot of ways, he was on the other hand way ahead of his time - and very un-Russian - in his treatment of common soldiers and labourers. Simon Sebag Montefiore has managed to write an eminently readable book on this man, his complex relationship with his Empress and his very eventful life. I will gladly forgive his slight tendency to try and find a deep meaning or strategic reasoning behind almost any of Potemkin's acts: he probably was a true Russian in doing a lot of things just for the hell of it. Beautifully illustrated as well as well written, this book is very hard to put down. And since the author has had the good sense of starting the book with the last chapter - Potemkin's death - you are saved the trouble of searching through the last chapters for an advance peek on the subject. Well worth all of it's 5 stars!
In reality Potemkin was a fascinating character responsible for a great number of very real achievements. Very Russian in a lot of ways, he was on the other hand way ahead of his time - and very un-Russian - in his treatment of common soldiers and labourers. Simon Sebag Montefiore has managed to write an eminently readable book on this man, his complex relationship with his Empress and his very eventful life. I will gladly forgive his slight tendency to try and find a deep meaning or strategic reasoning behind almost any of Potemkin's acts: he probably was a true Russian in doing a lot of things just for the hell of it. Beautifully illustrated as well as well written, this book is very hard to put down. And since the author has had the good sense of starting the book with the last chapter - Potemkin's death - you are saved the trouble of searching through the last chapters for an advance peek on the subject. Well worth all of it's 5 stars!
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
As a scholar of Imperial Russia, I can say that Mr. Sebag-Montefiore offers us a masterful and fair treatment of Prince Potemkin in his book. To put matters bluntly, history has treated Potemkin poorly, and it is only now, what with the collapse of the Soviet Union and the return to long-ignored subjects of Russia's past, that we are beginning to get a clearer, more objective view of events and personalities such as Potemkin. Sebag-Montefiore's biography, based on significant archival research and written with a good feel for the dramatic quality of his life, represents a major contribution to the reassessment of Catherine's most trusted advisor. This is a first-rate biography, and I recommend it most highly. It will be the book in English on Potemkin for decades to come.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The proper title of this book is "Potemkin, prince of princes" and as such you will find it elsewhere in Amazon's catalogue; together with a extensive description and the rave reviews it fully deserves
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Extraordinary story made difficult by seeming absence of editing
What a dilemma! The subject matter is extraordinary. Potemkin comes across as way beyond what we would normally think of as a 'polymath'--- this is a virtuoso life by any... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Merovingius
The heart of Russia in an excellent biography.
Catherine the Great and Potemkin, it is a wonderful story based on a private correspondence, it is a book that runs on two main levels that can satisfy both the historical interest... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Lupo
One of the greatest love stories of history, impeccably researched,...
What an exhilarating read! If it was a novel you wouldn't believe it, but it really happened in 18th century Russia! Read more
Published 21 months ago by Asmahan
IRISH COLEEN
OH PARTS OF IT WAS QUITE A STRUGGLE BUT I HAVE TO SAY IM NOT A HISTORY BUFF JUST AN ORDINARY READER WHO ENJOYS A BIT OF RUSSIAN HISTORY ESPECIALLY SIMON SEBAG MONT. Read more
Published on 5 Feb 2009 by IRISH COLEEN
Change of title
Readers should be aware that this is not a new book about Catherine the Great and Potemkin, but a reissue of the book previously called 'Potemkin: Prince of Princes'. Read more
Published on 12 Sep 2007 by Virginia Rounding
What a guy!
Grigory Potemkin. I knew the name, but not the man. I had heard of Potemkin Villages but not Potemkin's towns and cities. Read more
Published on 14 Aug 2001 by plana@valles.com
Compelling reading
Despite the fact that this is not exactly the flimsiest of booklets, you will be sorely tempted to read this book in one go. Read more
Published on 7 July 2001
Okay
Potemkin was a Russian statesman who exercised power in the reign of Catherine the Great. He had a position of importance for about 17 years in the last part of the 17th Century. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2001 by Tom Munro
Best historical biography since Amanda Foreman's 'Georgiana'
I completely concur with the reader from Oxford, your first reviewer. Since buying the book ten days ago I've barely put it aside. Read more
Published on 3 Oct 2000
Book of the Year for me
...People are going to be clamouring for this book. I got it two days ago and I've been reading it constantly ever since, it is totally unputdownable. Read more
Published on 22 Sep 2000
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