{"product_id":"2026200015334-secondhand-catherine-the-great","title":"Catherine The Great","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good\u003cbr\u003eJacket: No dust jacket\u003cbr\u003ePages: Yellowed\u003cbr\u003eCondition remarks: Condition as shown in image\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFew rulers in history have seized power with such audacity and wielded it with such brilliance as Catherine II of Russia, and Henri Troyat's masterful biography brings this formidable empress to vivid, uncompromising life. Born a minor German princess, Catherine orchestrated a palace coup against her own husband, Tsar Peter III, to claim the Russian throne in 1762, and spent the next three decades transforming her adopted empire into one of Europe's greatest powers. Troyat chronicles her insatiable ambitions — political, intellectual, and romantic — painting a portrait of a woman who counted Voltaire and Diderot among her correspondents while simultaneously expanding Russian territory through war and shrewd diplomacy.\n\nTroyat, one of France's most celebrated biographers and a member of the Académie française, brings the narrative sweep of a novelist to the rigorous demands of historical scholarship, illuminating the grand contradictions of a woman who championed Enlightenment ideals yet ruled as an absolute autocrat. The gilded courts of St. Petersburg, the brutal realities of serfdom, and the intrigues of a powerful empire all form the rich backdrop against which Catherine's extraordinary character is revealed. For readers who believe they know the legend, Troyat's account presents the far more fascinating truth.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49203202719963,"sku":"2026200015334-SECONDHAND","price":12.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/9c7f8268-cdae-4a63-a64b-586914afb292.png?v=1788145568","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200015334-secondhand-catherine-the-great","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}