Catherine the Great

by Simon Dixon

Overview

Neither a comprehensive 'life and times' nor a conventional biography, this is an engaging and accessible exploration of rulership and monarchial authority in eighteenth century Russia. Its purpose is to see how Catherine II of Russia conceived of her power and how it was represented to her subjects. Simon Dixon asks essential questions about Catherin'es life and reign, and offers new and stimulating arguments about the Englightenment, the power of the monarch in early modern Europe, and the much-debated role of the "great individual" in history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138165687
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	01/13/2017
Series:	Profiles In Power
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Simon Dixon is Sir Bernard Pares Professor of Russian History at University College London.

Table of Contents

Preface; Abbreviations; Chapter 1 The problem of power; Chapter 2 Catherine takes power; Chapter 3 Images of power; Chapter 4 The power of ideas: Catherine and the; philosophes; Chapter 5 Catherine and Russian political culture; Chapter 6 Enlightened despotism; Chapter 7 Power relationships in Russia; Chapter 8 Russia as a European great power; Chapter 9 Epilogue: power transferred and transformed;

What People are Saying About This

Catherine Merridale

“Like Catherine herself, Simon Dixon’s new biography is attractive, engaging, and very intelligent. It wears its scholarship lightly, too, but established fans of the Russian empress will find plenty of new material and those who are meeting her for the first time will be dazzled.”

Simon Sebag Montefiore

“There is lots new in this superb biography . . . [Dixon] manages to be scholarly, refreshing, commonsensical and compelling, vividly portraying the charismatic Empress and her times.”

Editorial Reviews

A minor princess from the German backwater of Anhalt-Zerbst, Catherine the Great parlayed a loveless marriage into rule after her unattractive husband, Peter III, was deposed in a bloodless coup. Six months later, Peter was dead, strangled by the brother of a court favorite. (There is no evidence that Catherine colluded in his murder.) Intelligent and energetic, Catherine was influenced by Montesquieu, Beccaria, and the English jurist Blackstone and soon set about reforming her backward empire. A patron of the arts and letters, she corresponded with Voltaire, d'Alembert, and Diderot. Her attempts to lighten the burden on the Russian serfs failed, but she improved domestic administration and established a permanent footprint in the West when the last parts of independent Poland were absorbed into Russia in 1795. Dixon effectively details the minutiae of court life, explicating the importance of display in signaling imperial power. He doesn't slight Catherine's numerous affairs but notes that she didn't confuse affairs of the heart with affairs of state. This admirable biography elucidates aspects of Catherine's life-both what she did and did not achieve in a long and colorful reign-and is warmly recommended for both specialists and readers new to the subject.
—David Keymer

Library Journal

Like Catherine herself, Simon Dixon’s new biography is attractive, engaging, and very intelligent. It wears its scholarship lightly, too, but established fans of the Russian empress will find plenty of new material and those who are meeting her for the first time will be dazzled.” — Catherine Merridale, author of Ivan's War and Night of Stone: Death and Memory in Russia

“There is lots new in this superb biography . . . [Dixon] manages to be scholarly, refreshing, commonsensical and compelling, vividly portraying the charismatic Empress and her times.” — Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Sashenka and Young Stalin

From the Publisher

Like Catherine herself, Simon Dixon’s new biography is attractive, engaging, and very intelligent. It wears its scholarship lightly, too, but established fans of the Russian empress will find plenty of new material and those who are meeting her for the first time will be dazzled.

Catherine Merridale

There is lots new in this superb biography . . . [Dixon] manages to be scholarly, refreshing, commonsensical and compelling, vividly portraying the charismatic Empress and her times.

Simon Sebag Montefiore