Written by Robert K Massie
Read by Mark Deakins
Format: MP3
Bitrate: 64 Kbps

The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra,
and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography,
the extraordinary story of an obscure young German princess who traveled
to Russia at fourteen and rose to become one of the most remarkable,
powerful, and captivating women in history.

Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into Empress
of Russia by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant mind and an
insatiable curiosity as a young woman, she devoured the works of Enlightenment
philosophers and, when she reached the throne, attempted to use their
principles to guide her rule of the vast and backward Russian empire.
She knew or corresponded with the preeminent historical figures of her
time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Empress Maria Theresa
of Austria, Marie Antoinette, and, surprisingly, the American naval
hero, John Paul Jones.

Reaching the throne fired by Enlightenment philosophy and determined
to become the embodiment of the “benevolent despot” idealized by Montesquieu,
she found herself always contending with the deeply ingrained realities
of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for thirty-four
years the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare
of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion,
foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned
up by the French Revolution that swept across Europe. Her reputation
depended entirely on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised
by Voltaire as the equal of the greatest of classical philosophers;
she was condemned by her enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina
of the north.”