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  • Published: 1 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9780099462347
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 608
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

Catherine The Great

Love, Sex, and Power



Power politics and sexual politics combine in the life of an extraordinary woman who ruled Russia from 1762 until her death in 1796.

'THE MOST ACCESSIBLE AND ENJOYABLE PORTRAIT YET.' DAILY MAIL
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Power, sex, and politics: the fascinating rule of one of Russia's most significant monarchs

Catherine the Great ruled Russia from 1762 until 1796. Famous for the legends circulated by political rivals about her sexual rapacity, some were true - though not the infamous rumour of her death by stallion. However, a conservative Russian court was shocked by her use of her sexuality as a political tool, as well as the number and age of her lovers.

Unhappily married to the Grand Duke Peter, a man who preferred to play with his toy soldiers in the bedroom, they failed to produce an heir, and Catherine turned her attentions to a certain Sergey Saltykov who fathered the future Tsar Paul I. Six months into the reign of Peter III, Catherine, supported by the Imperial Guard, staged a successful coup against her husband and became Empress. It was her ambition to transform a vast but semi-barbaric country with the cultural and political reforms of Enlightenment Europe.

In this fascinating biography, Virginia Rounding reveals an extraordinary woman in all her complexity.
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'A great thumping triumph of a book.' DAILY TELEGRAPH
'Rounding shows that the reality is far more interesting than any of the fictions.' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY
'An intimate study of Catherine's life' GUARDIAN
'Enjoyable and perceptive study . . . Rounding has read widely, and writes history with a no-nonsense style and a respectful relish for the details that make the past come alive.' Simon Sebag Montefiore, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH
'Rounding writes with enviable lucidity, and gives us the most accessible and enjoyable portrait yet.' DAILY MAIL

'Written with vigour and intelligence enough to do justice to its prodigious subject.' SUNDAY TIMES

  • Published: 1 May 2007
  • ISBN: 9780099462347
  • Imprint: Arrow
  • Format: Paperback
  • Pages: 608
  • RRP: $39.99
Categories:

About the author

Virginia Rounding

Virginia Rounding, author of the critically acclaimed Les Grandes Horizontales, is fluent in Russian and French and is a regular visitor to St Petersburg. She lives in London.

Praise for Catherine The Great

Enjoyable and perceptive study ... Rounding has read widely, and writes punctilious, professional history with a no-nonsense style and a respectful relish for the details that make the past come alive.

Simon Sebag Montefiore, Sunday Telegraph

Rounding writes with enviable lucidity, and gives us the most accessible and enjoyable portrait yet.

Daily Mail

A great thumping triumph of a book.

Daily Telegraph

Rounding shows that ... the reality is far more interesting than any of the fictions.

Scotland on Sunday

Written with vigour and intelligence enough to do justice to its prodigious subject.

Sunday Times

Rounding's respectful take is highly appropriate ... Through her eyes, we see a woman committed to Enlightenment values ... Catherine was both a highly sexual woman and an intellectual; there is nothing anyone need add to her story. It is all there.

Scotsman

Densely detailed and always absorbing.

Western Daily Press

For a sense of Catherine's intimate life, sexual appetites, preoccupations, ruthlessness, intellectual scope, sentimentality and dedication, this is a great piece of work.

FT Magazine