Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America
The Russian Empire once extended deep into America: in 1818 Russia's furthest outposts were in California and Hawaii. The dreamer behind this great Imperial vision was Nikolai Rezanov – diplomat, adventurer, courtier, millionaire and gambler. His quest to plant Russian colonies from Siberia to California led him to San Francisco, where he was captivated by Conchita, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Spanish Governor, who embodied his dreams of both love and empire. From the glittering court of Catherine the Great to the wilds of the New World, Matthews conjures a brilliantly original portrait of one of Russia's most eccentric Empire-builders.

1114317574
Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America
The Russian Empire once extended deep into America: in 1818 Russia's furthest outposts were in California and Hawaii. The dreamer behind this great Imperial vision was Nikolai Rezanov – diplomat, adventurer, courtier, millionaire and gambler. His quest to plant Russian colonies from Siberia to California led him to San Francisco, where he was captivated by Conchita, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Spanish Governor, who embodied his dreams of both love and empire. From the glittering court of Catherine the Great to the wilds of the New World, Matthews conjures a brilliantly original portrait of one of Russia's most eccentric Empire-builders.

19.6 In Stock
Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America

Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America

by Owen Matthews
Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America

Glorious Misadventures: Nikolai Rezanov and the Dream of a Russian America

by Owen Matthews

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Overview

The Russian Empire once extended deep into America: in 1818 Russia's furthest outposts were in California and Hawaii. The dreamer behind this great Imperial vision was Nikolai Rezanov – diplomat, adventurer, courtier, millionaire and gambler. His quest to plant Russian colonies from Siberia to California led him to San Francisco, where he was captivated by Conchita, the fifteen-year-old daughter of the Spanish Governor, who embodied his dreams of both love and empire. From the glittering court of Catherine the Great to the wilds of the New World, Matthews conjures a brilliantly original portrait of one of Russia's most eccentric Empire-builders.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781620402412
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Publication date: 11/12/2013
Sold by: Barnes & Noble
Format: eBook
Pages: 320
File size: 3 MB

About the Author

Owen Matthews studied History at Oxford University before becoming a journalist. He has covered conflicts in Bosnia, Lebanon, Chechnya, Afghanistan and Iraq and is currently a contributing editor at Newsweek Magazine. Stalin's Children (2008) was shortlisted for the Guardian First Books Award, the Orwell Prize and France's Prix Medicis, and has been translated into twenty-six languages. He lives in Moscow and Istanbul.
Owen Matthews studied Modern History at Oxford University before beginning his career as a journalist in Bosnia. He has written for the Moscow Times, The Times, the Spectator and the Independent. In 1997, he became a correspondent at Newsweek magazine in Moscow where he covered the second Chechen war, Afghanistan, Iraq, and the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. His first book on Russian history, Stalin's Children, was translated into 28 languages and shortlisted for The Guardian First Books Award and France's Prix Medicis.
Owen's first book on Russian history was Stalin's Children, a family memoir, which was published to great critical acclaim in 2008. The book was shortlisted for the Guardian First Book Award and the Orwell Prize for political writing, and selected as one of the Books of the Year by the Sunday Times, Sunday Telegraph and the Spectator. It has been translated into twenty-eight languages and was shortlisted for France's Medici Prize and French Elle Magazine's Grand Prix Litteraire, as well as being selected as one of the FNAC chain's twenty featured titles for the Rentree Litteraire of 2009.

Owen is currently a contributing editor for Newsweek magazine, based in Istanbul and Moscow.

Table of Contents

Maps xi

Prologue 1

Introduction 5

1 Man and Nature 12

2 The Final Frontier 21

3 The Court 35

4 The King of Siberia 57

5 A Nabob in St Petersburg 78

6 To China 91

7 Empire Builder 102

8 Tsar Paul 111

9 Russia's East India Company 129

10 From Newgate to Brazil 142

11 Cape Horn to the Court of the Hawaiian King 157

12 Nangasac 175

13 Humiliation 187

14 The Voyage of the Maria 203

15 Baranov 224

16 Hunger, Disease, Shipwreck and Death 239

17 Conchita 256

18 Love and Ambition 270

19 I will never see you - I will never forget you 285

20 The Weeping Country 295

Epilogues 305

Notes 327

Select Bibliography 355

Acknowledgements 365

Index 369

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