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chris_chester 's review for:
Peter the Great: His Life and World
by Robert K. Massie
Easily the best work of history I have ever read. The accounts of Peter the Great himself are insightful and often thrilling, especially when he describes the perils of the many military campaigns.
But more important than that is the way that Massie holds the reader's interest by constantly delving into a variety of smaller topics surrounding the great autocrat, like the construction of St. Petersburg, the life and personality of Swedish King Charles XII, the Great Northern War, the strange court of the Persian empire, the rise of the Russian navy, and so on.
This enthusiasm and skill at providing context fleshes out the core story and makes me feel enthused about history in ways I didn't imagine I could feel.
But more important than that is the way that Massie holds the reader's interest by constantly delving into a variety of smaller topics surrounding the great autocrat, like the construction of St. Petersburg, the life and personality of Swedish King Charles XII, the Great Northern War, the strange court of the Persian empire, the rise of the Russian navy, and so on.
This enthusiasm and skill at providing context fleshes out the core story and makes me feel enthused about history in ways I didn't imagine I could feel.