Catherine the Great

Robert K. Massie’s "Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman" is a biography of the German-born princess who became Russia’s longest-ruling female monarch. Massie, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian of Romanov Russia, frames the book as both a political life and an intimate portrait, tracing Sophia of Anhalt-Zerbst’s journey from a minor Prussian principality to her marriage to the future Peter III, her 1762 coup, and her thirty-four-year reign as Catherine II. The narrative is organized around major phases and crises rather than abstract theses: the miserable marriage and court intrigues under Empress Elizabeth; Catherine’s careful cultivation of allies among the Guards and nobility; her restless intellectual life, including correspondence with Voltaire, Diderot, and other philosophes; and her sweeping reforms and territorial expansion. Massie gives substantial attention to Catherine’s relationships, notably with Grigory Orlov, who helped her seize power, and later Grigory Potemkin, her partner in governance and empire-building. He examines her enthusiasm for Enlightenment ideas alongside the limits of those ideals in an autocratic system, including the contradictions of serfdom and the Pugachev rebellion. The book also covers her foreign policy, partitions of Poland, annexation of Crimea, and founding of cities and institutions. Across chapters, Massie uses letters, memoirs, and diplomatic dispatches to portray Catherine as shrewd, hardworking, and emotionally resilient. The result is a cradle-to-grave account that blends high politics, court culture, and personal drama, arguing that Catherine’s achievements and image were inseparable from her will to rule and her skill at managing people and power.