Catherine the Great: Love Sex and Power

by Virginia Rounding

Hardcover, 2006

Status

Available

Call number

947.063092

Genres

Publication

Hutchinson (2006), Hardcover

Description

A portrait of the late eighteenth-century Russian ruler discusses how she seized and kept the throne in spite of her illegitimate claim and a series of wars, rebellions, and plagues, tracing how she rendered Russia a major European power.

User reviews

LibraryThing member aliciamalia

The book is interesting - Catherine the Great was a very intriguing woman - but occasionally lapses into slow cataloging of facts. I'd only recommend it if you really want to know a lot about her, or the start of the Hermitage Museum.

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LibraryThing member vhoeschler

Admittedly this book took me a long time to finish (this is in large part due to the fact that I'm not the speediest reader and I tend to have more than one book going at a time), but as far as nonfiction goes, this is officially a favorite. In fact, it is one of the better books I've ever read;

fiction, nonfiction, or otherwise. In "Love, Sex, Power", Rounding brings to life a fantastic minx of woman that put Russia on the map as a legitimate world player. The reader is thoroughly entertained and educated. So often with biographies, the storytelling becomes dry and muddled with incoherent facts. However, with this book, Rounding cleverly weaves history, people and legend into one enthralling story. From the infamous “horse rumors” to “Potemkin Villages”, the life of Catherine is depicted whole-heartedly. In many ways, this biography read like a novel, and a thrilling one at that.
Rating: 5 out of 5 stars.
Suggested With: Many many midday hours during which one can get wrapped up with a bowl of soup or cup of tea.

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LibraryThing member AlexTheHunn

Catherine is a particular favorite of mine. I have great respect and admiration for her. She dragged Russia forward and forced elightenment, education, relgious reform, modern medicine and sanitation upon her subjects. Certainly it is true that she was not democratic. But that is to judge her by a

standard that would have been unrecognized by anyone in her part of the world at that time. Though she was not without faults, the good she did far outweighed those shortcomings. Moreover, if Catherine had not been on the throne, what are we to suppose would have been the fate of Russia under the rule of whoever else happened to seize power? It is not as if she were the only thing standing between Russia and freedom. Quite the contrary, she was standing between Russia and even worse oppression.

While I am enjoying reading this book, I confess that I am also irritated by it. It is far too popular and unscholarly. There are no references and very few notes. What few notes there are, are not tied to the text so the reader is left to figure out as best he can what goes where. Far better biographies of Catherine exist.

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LibraryThing member BrynDahlquis

A -very- indepth look at Catherine the Great's life. It's exceedingly detailed, and yet I didn't really get tired of reading. Admittedly, it took me quite a while to get through it all, but I did. I never even thought about leaving it unfinished.

All the detail of the biography makes me inclined to

believe the author about almost everything, but Virginia Rounding paints her in such a positive light that I can't help but wonder. Nevertheless, I'm pretty convinced that Catherine the Great really was great. She just...had some crazy tendencies and some crazy descendants.

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