A review by rebelswin
Peter the Great: His Life and World by Robert K. Massie

4.0

80 days to finish this, with a number of other books finished in the meanwhile. I came to this book looking for a slice of Peter the Great, but Robert Massie is not the kind of person to serve up a half-measure of anything. Instead of a quick dish I could sample, Massie sets the table with all of the Renaissance accouterments, the 50 course meal, the kegs of kvass and bottles (and bottles and bottles) of vodka, with the mock Tsar presiding, Charles XII rampaging across the hall, and the illumination of the Sun King shining from afar. You will learn Peter by immersion. This was alternately overwhelming and off-putting to me for much of the book, but around 60% in I really started to dig his approach. To mix my metaphors even more thoroughly, this book is a journey, an epic; you are in it for the long haul. But it is masterfully well told. Peter the Great comes alive in the telling.