Catherine The Great
Condition: SECONDHAND
This is a secondhand book. The jacket image is a photograph of the exact copy we have in stock. This image shows the condition of this book. Further condition remarks are below.
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Few rulers in history have commanded the world's stage with such formidable brilliance as Catherine II of Russia, and Zoé Oldenbourg's Catherine the Great presents a vivid and authoritative portrait of this extraordinary woman who transformed an empire. Originally written in French and translated by Anne Carter, with a preface by Arthur Calder-Marshall, this biography chronicles Catherine's remarkable ascent from an obscure German princess to the most powerful woman in 18th-century Europe, illuminating the political cunning, intellectual passion, and sheer force of will that defined her sixty-seven-year life. Oldenbourg reconstructs the sweeping grandeur of the Russian imperial court — its intrigues, its lovers, its wars — with the precision of a historian and the narrative flair of a gifted storyteller. Oldenbourg, herself a celebrated historical novelist, brings to this biography the same rich atmospheric detail and psychological depth that distinguished her acclaimed works of medieval fiction, grounding Catherine's personal story within the vast geopolitical currents of Enlightenment Europe. The result is a compelling study of power, ambition, and identity — of a woman who corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot while waging war and expanding Russia's borders to an unprecedented scale. Whether Catherine was a visionary reformer or a ruthless autocrat remains one of history's most tantalising questions, and Oldenbourg leaves the reader to wrestle with that very tension long after the final page.
Author: Zoé Oldenbourg
Format: Hardback
Genre: Biography
Condition remarks:
Book: Good
Jacket: N/A
Pages: Good
Few rulers in history have commanded the world's stage with such formidable brilliance as Catherine II of Russia, and Zoé Oldenbourg's Catherine the Great presents a vivid and authoritative portrait of this extraordinary woman who transformed an empire. Originally written in French and translated by Anne Carter, with a preface by Arthur Calder-Marshall, this biography chronicles Catherine's remarkable ascent from an obscure German princess to the most powerful woman in 18th-century Europe, illuminating the political cunning, intellectual passion, and sheer force of will that defined her sixty-seven-year life. Oldenbourg reconstructs the sweeping grandeur of the Russian imperial court — its intrigues, its lovers, its wars — with the precision of a historian and the narrative flair of a gifted storyteller. Oldenbourg, herself a celebrated historical novelist, brings to this biography the same rich atmospheric detail and psychological depth that distinguished her acclaimed works of medieval fiction, grounding Catherine's personal story within the vast geopolitical currents of Enlightenment Europe. The result is a compelling study of power, ambition, and identity — of a woman who corresponded with Voltaire and Diderot while waging war and expanding Russia's borders to an unprecedented scale. Whether Catherine was a visionary reformer or a ruthless autocrat remains one of history's most tantalising questions, and Oldenbourg leaves the reader to wrestle with that very tension long after the final page.