30 review for Peter the Great: A Biography

1. 

   5 out of 5

   Ruby – Jan 28, 2019

   A great biography and a great starting point for getting to know Peter the Great, imo. The author touched every subject, gave a general picture of 17th century Russia before diving into Peter I's life and, while I greatly appreciated it, some passages were still obscure to me... but it's probably my fault because I am a complete neophyte in Russian history. In any case, once the author started to talk about Peter the Great himself, both the book and the pace completely improved. I read this book A great biography and a great starting point for getting to know Peter the Great, imo. The author touched every subject, gave a general picture of 17th century Russia before diving into Peter I's life and, while I greatly appreciated it, some passages were still obscure to me... but it's probably my fault because I am a complete neophyte in Russian history. In any case, once the author started to talk about Peter the Great himself, both the book and the pace completely improved. I read this book for my early modern history exam and, while it was not my first choice, I truly enjoyed it and I think I will read some more about Peter the Great, his half-sister Sophia and his second wife Catherine (the future Catherine I)

2. 

   4 out of 5

   Gabrielle – Aug 01, 2020

   Hughes did a great job at condensing the mass amount of information available on Peter, but the structure of her biography was not reader-friendly and made an otherwise fascinating subject tedious. The reader doesn't know what to anticipate from each chapter and events from Peter's life seem haphazardly thrown together. However, like some of the reviewers before me, would like to comment on Hughes's interesting analysis of the artwork created depicting Peter. Loved her analysis. Hughes did a great job at condensing the mass amount of information available on Peter, but the structure of her biography was not reader-friendly and made an otherwise fascinating subject tedious. The reader doesn't know what to anticipate from each chapter and events from Peter's life seem haphazardly thrown together. However, like some of the reviewers before me, would like to comment on Hughes's interesting analysis of the artwork created depicting Peter. Loved her analysis.

3. 

   5 out of 5

   Corey – Apr 17, 2007

   To me, imperial Russia is absolutely fascinating. I think it would be extremely difficult to write an uninteresting book about the subject, even if your approach is very straight forward, your prose is uninspired and your book reads like a list of biographical facts. Indeed, I do mean this book was all those things, but it was also a wonderful introduction to Peter the Great. This book provided a very feeling overall portrait of the man. After reading this book, I could talk about him as a perso To me, imperial Russia is absolutely fascinating. I think it would be extremely difficult to write an uninteresting book about the subject, even if your approach is very straight forward, your prose is uninspired and your book reads like a list of biographical facts. Indeed, I do mean this book was all those things, but it was also a wonderful introduction to Peter the Great. This book provided a very feeling overall portrait of the man. After reading this book, I could talk about him as a person and understand him in that way more than as a political figure. It was a great introduction that breezed through the main "plot points" of Peter's life and provided a fascinating look into early eighteenth century imperial Russia. The book itself was less than interesting but the topic's singular draw and intrigue carried the day and made the book worth reading.

4. 

   5 out of 5

   Lisa – Nov 06, 2008

   A friend loaned me this book before I went to Russia (in 2003) and I just now got around to finishing it. So I guess that shows I had some reservations from the beginning! I knew nothing about Peter the Great before this book, and I think maybe it was not a good choice for a beginner to Russian history. That said, it was not as dry as I had feared it would be. Peter the Great was one kooky guy. But this part of world history does not captivate me, and I believe this book is better for the reader A friend loaned me this book before I went to Russia (in 2003) and I just now got around to finishing it. So I guess that shows I had some reservations from the beginning! I knew nothing about Peter the Great before this book, and I think maybe it was not a good choice for a beginner to Russian history. That said, it was not as dry as I had feared it would be. Peter the Great was one kooky guy. But this part of world history does not captivate me, and I believe this book is better for the reader who has some knowledge of and interest in the Petrine era.

5. 

   5 out of 5

   Kate – Sep 03, 2011

   A pretty good biography overall. I never realized quite how influential Peter the Great was to modern Russia. His legacy is amazing.

6. 

   5 out of 5

   John Kaye – Jun 22, 2018

   Although I accept that Lindsey Hughes was a towering expert in all things to do with Russian history and her judgements and historical skills are widely praised, I still found this book hard going: there's something about her prose style that makes reading progress much slowly than the material should warrant. I turned to this book after making very slow progress with Russia in the Age of Peter the Great, but but even the much shorter length could get me over the writing style. And it's not easy Although I accept that Lindsey Hughes was a towering expert in all things to do with Russian history and her judgements and historical skills are widely praised, I still found this book hard going: there's something about her prose style that makes reading progress much slowly than the material should warrant. I turned to this book after making very slow progress with Russia in the Age of Peter the Great, but but even the much shorter length could get me over the writing style. And it's not easy to descibe exactly why this is so.

7. 

   4 out of 5

   Will Clemmons – Oct 13, 2020

   Having to read this in a week was not fun. Now on to writing a review paper.

8. 

   4 out of 5

   Ottilie – Feb 14, 2013

   School Reading

9. 

   4 out of 5

   Blbatzer – May 01, 2012

   Fascinating story of a stark historical figure, and quite a tall one at that. Peter the Great was close to 7' tall! This was a must-read in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Russia. Fascinating story of a stark historical figure, and quite a tall one at that. Peter the Great was close to 7' tall! This was a must-read in anticipation of our upcoming trip to Russia.

10. 

    5 out of 5

    Adam Gitter –

11. 

    4 out of 5

    Bhaskar Sunkara –

12. 

    5 out of 5

    Conan –

13. 

    4 out of 5

    Mejiro –

14. 

    4 out of 5

    Sam –

15. 

    5 out of 5

    William –

16. 

    5 out of 5

    Celeste - Una stanza tutta per me –

17. 

    4 out of 5

    Robert Hult –

18. 

    5 out of 5

    Seth –

19. 

    5 out of 5

    Barbara Allen –

20. 

    5 out of 5

    Keith –

21. 

    5 out of 5

    Stina –

22. 

    5 out of 5

    Elizabeth Lebron –

23. 

    4 out of 5

    Marshall –

24. 

    4 out of 5

    Charlotte Hudson –

25. 

    5 out of 5

    Jc Jones –

26. 

    4 out of 5

    Kris –

27. 

    5 out of 5

    Federica –

28. 

    5 out of 5

    HW –

29. 

    5 out of 5

    Eleanor –

30. 

    4 out of 5

    Sophia –