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Title: Peter the Great
ISBN: 0394500326
Author:
Robert K. Massie
Publicate Date: 1980-09-12
Publish: 1980-09-12
List Price: $40.00
Average Customer Rating: 5.0
Format: Hardcover
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $34.90
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.01
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1: Massie's detail wonderfully illuminates this page turner
I read this book ten or more years ago and still remember it well. It changed the way I read history. I get interested in a period a biography ends up suggesting other aspects of the time. My interest is largely in the ways personalities and intellects interact with their times and cultures to propel events. Peter the Great does a wonderful job of illustrating the times, the mindset in Russia and Europe and how this man, with one foot in the nearly tribal habits of Czarist and the other in 'modern' Europe, began to move his gigantic nation from an entirely inward view to a more global perspective. Massie is immensely readable which, for some reason,'serious' historians feel is a flaw. I've never understood the reason for that complaint. (Barbara Tuchman--Guns of August and others-- was criticized for the same trait.)His scholarship is equally huge and his scope is broad enough to understand context and narrow enough to remain a biography.
But that is not what changed my reading of history. As a not particularly crucial portion of the book, Massie describes some battles. I usually avoid military history as tactics and strategy did not appeal to me. (I read Shelby Foote's stunning 3 volumes on the Civil War and nearly collapsed from the details from one battle to the next.) Massie's descriptions not only described pincer movements and troop massing, but illuminated the reasons for military decisions, and the personalities that drove decisions. He describes the battles that make clear the abilities (or lack thereof) of the participants. His description of tactics made it clear to me for the first time the larger meaning of military efforts in the overall results--not simply victory or failure, but the impact on the battlefield and off. For example,a successful military leader can be pushed into a larger more influential political or governmental role, even if the reasons for his success do not bode well for being successful in the evolved role. I don't recall that exact circumstance [excellent general becoming a failed political leader]arising in Peter the Great, but I do remember realizing that it could. It was something I had not thought of before. He does not say "general X could not translate military maneuver into political skill". Instead he describes what happened and its result. The point is made and never a pedantic minute spent. He converted me from reading quickly through the battles of history to considering their larger import, and I am still grateful for the lesson. And, mind you, this is a relatively small element within this book. Massie enlarges your understanding of history.
His treatment of the military action is repeated in his treatment of all of Peter's life. His detail of the competing European aristocracies, the charming and much less than charming aspects of Peter's character (was Peter a humanist as Europe saw it or a man willing to casually torture others..or both?), the limits of the Czar's impulse to the modern explain the man and his time. Massie does not rely on declaring his subject, but allows the life to declare itself.
History is a story, which is part of the reason we read it. It is not a series of facts, but instead the interweaving of many facts, of which perhaps the most important are the characters and capacities of the principal players and the societies they inhabit. Massie is very, very good at keeping one finger on the psyche of the participants, another finger on the social movements, the psychology of the region or country or crowd, another finger on the technology that effects outcomes, and so on, so that when he folds his hands around the tale, you are informed of the aspects that, taken together, made history. Moreover he does it with suspense, never telling the tale too soon while hinting of direction, so that novel like, you are compelled to turn the page.
Peter the Great changed Russia forever and you will better understand that time and this one for reading it. Massie's clear, well written, well paced book and its comprehensive grasp of its subject puts it on the 'must read' list for anyone interested in history of any time or any place.
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2: The best book I have ever read
Without a doubt, this is the best book I have ever read. It is immensely entertaining and informative. Robert Massie's descriptions and detailed portrayals provide a clear picture of Peter's life and times. Even though I read this book a decade ago, the scenes and stories still seem almost as real to me as personnel experiences. Peter's employment as a shipwright in Holland, his torturing of mutinous soldiers and dental patients, and wars raged against the Finns and Tartars still bring vivid images to my mind.
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3: Not only History - but a great Business Book
As noted in all previous reviews, this is a facinating book on Peter and Russian history.
However, it is a powerful book on organization skill. How do you bring in new cultures/learnings to an established environment. How do you manage your executives and the staff.
Was able to learn much.
There is much to digest, as it is long and has hundreds of characters. But a worthy work.
I regret that I am unable to find the NBC mini-series for purchase, As I have heard that it is just as well done.
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4: The best history book ever
I teach history and have read a lot of books. This is the best history book I have ever read. Massie does such an amazing job at bringing the reading into the age. Peter was a fascinating man. Massie makes you understand what made him also great.
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5: A masterpiece of Russian history
Massie's work of Russian history is one of the fines biographies I have ever read. It keeps interest start to finish. It never gets boring at all, and that is important since the book is over 800 pages! Massie delves into the experience that made the man who is Tsar Peter The Great, yet at no time does it ever let down. It is exciting, readable, and very human. I enjoy Massie's book, and I intend to read more of his works
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