Robert K. Massie (1929–2019)

In the All-Russian contest “Name of Russia”, aimed to elect the most notable personality in Russian history by voting via the Internet, radio and television Peter I finished fifth. Ahead of another person who radically altered the destiny of Russia after him – Vladimir Lenin. The guy who brought here Christianity – Prince Vladimir I – and the guy responsible for the downfall of the USSR - Mikhail Gorbachev – didn’t even make it to Top 50 (though Boris Yeltsin did). This illustrates the importance of Peter’s figure even in contemporary Russia, 300 years after his untimely death.

This was my second book by R. Massie, first being a wonderful tome on Catherine II another of only three monarchs so styled since the establishment of tzardom in Russia in XV century. What I can surmise upon reading these two books – on Catherine and Peter – the author loved Russia. I would go even further proposing that he was a very pleasant person to be with. The way he depicts characters, no matter how repulsive their deeds are, normally doesn’t provoke rage or any other negative emotions. Probably you’d feel sorry and upset by person’s bad behavior. And if a person possesses some commendable traits or did something good, you’d end up his Facebook fan for life. Mr. Massie probably was adored by his students. He’s not only a great narrator, but a very savvy psychologist too.

Time and again you will run into some tangential figures main protagonist meets. Their names may sound remotely familiar, but all of us are a bit rusty on school history, aren’t we? Don’t panic, you’ll be provided with a brief, but yet sufficient enough description of a person, age, event, trade, country, etc…

While reading it, I simultaneously read and watched some Russian historians talking on Peter I. It looks like Mr. Massie covered every interesting story and fact of Tzar’s life. Bravo! His warmness to Russia still baffles me, if we factor in the time of writing – late 1970s – Cold War’s apogee! It’s as apolitical treatment of history as it should be. An example for all historians.

P.s. In spite of making it to top 5 Russia’s historical heroes public opinion on the Tzar is still divided.
… (meer)

3.5 stars

The animated film Anastasia got the entire story wrong, sadly. The writers didn't even try for accuracy, apparently - very sad to me, because I really liked that movie.

Massie details the true story here, and though I normally don't like history texts, I liked this one. His writing is very readable, and I learned a lot. (Particularly about the events leading up to the war; and about Rasputin and how he came to be involved with the Imperial family. I didn't even know that Nicholas and Alexandra had a son, let alone that he suffered from hemophilia.)

At over 500 pages, though, it was still far too long for me. I felt that 50-100 pages could have easily been omitted by paring down unnecessary details of persons not central to the story.

Also, I was quite appalled when Massie at one point described Rasputin as having "good-natured aggression" right after stating that he would grab women and "start undoing buttons" without any kind of preamble or permission. Rasputin was accused of attempted rape many times, and it is not okay to write this violence off. There is no such thing as "good-natured" sexual assault or harassment.… (meer)