{"product_id":"catherine-the-great-life-and-legend-9780195052367","title":"Catherine the Great: Life and Legend","description":"\u003cp\u003eOne of the most colorful characters in modern history  Catherine II of Russia began her life as a minor German princess  until the childless Empress Elizabeth and Catherines own scheming mother married her off to the Grand Duke Peter of Russia at age sixteen. By thirty-three  she had overthrown her husband in a bloodless coup and established herself as Empress of the multinational Russian Empire  the largest territorial political unit in modern history. Portrayed both as a political genius who restored to Russia the glory it had known in the days of Peter the Great and as a despotic foreign adventuress who usurped the Russian throne  murdered her rivals  and tyrannized her subjects  she was  by all accounts  an extraordinary woman. Catherine the Great  the first popular biography of the empress based on contemporary scholarship  provides a vivid portrait of Catherine as a mother  a lover  and  above all  an extremely savvy ruler. Concentrating on her long reign (1762-96)  John Alexander examines all aspects of Catherines life and career: the brilliant political strategies by which she won the acceptance of a nationalistic elite; her expansive foreign policy; the domestic reforms with which she revamped the Russian military  political structure  and economy; and  of course  her infamous love life. Beginning with an account of the dramatic palace revolt by which Catherine unseated her husband and a background chapter describing the circumstances of her early childhood and marriage  Alexander then proceeds chronologically through the thirty-four years of her reign. Presenting Catherine in more human terms than previous biographers have  Alexander includes numerous quotations from her reminiscences and notes. We learn  for instance  not only the names and number of her lovers  but her understanding of what many considered a shocking licentiousness. \"The trouble is \" she wrote  \"that my heart would not willingly remain one hour without love.\" The result of twenty years research by one of Americas leading narrative historians of modern Russia  this truly impressive work offers a much-needed  balanced reappraisal of one of historys most scandal-ridden figures.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279506989109,"sku":"ByrdShop_0195052366","price":28.52,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780195052367.jpg?v=1780600814","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/catherine-the-great-life-and-legend-9780195052367","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}