Memoirs Of Catherine The Great

Author : Catherine the Great
Publisher : Modern Library
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2007-12-18
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780307432438

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The Memoirs of Catherine the Great by Catherine the Great Pdf

Empress Catherine II brought Europe to Russia, and Russia to Europe, during her long and eventful reign (1762—96). She fostered the culture of the Enlightenment and greatly expanded the immense empire created by Czar Ivan the Terrible, shifting the balance of power in Europe eastward. Famous for her will to power and for her dozen lovers, Catherine was also a prolific and gifted writer. Fluent in French, Russian, and German, Catherine published political theory, journalism, comedies, operas, and history, while writing thousands of letters as she corresponded with Voltaire and other public figures. The Memoirs of Catherine the Great provides an unparalleled window into eighteenth-century Russia and the mind of an absolute ruler. With insight, humor, and candor, Catherine presents her eyewitness account of history, from her whirlwind entry into the Russian court in 1744 at age fourteen as the intended bride of Empress Elizabeth I’s nephew, the eccentric drunkard and future Peter III, to her unhappy marriage; from her two children, several miscarriages, and her and Peter’s numerous affairs to the political maneuvering that enabled Catherine to seize the throne from him in 1762. Catherine’s eye for telling details makes for compelling reading as she describes the dramatic fall and rise of her political fortunes. This definitive new translation from the French is scrupulously faithful to her words and is the first for which translators have consulted original manuscripts written in Catherine’s own hand. It is an indispensable work for anyone interested in Catherine the Great, Russian history, or the eighteenth century.

Author : Catherine the Great
Publisher : Modern Library
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2006-06-13
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780812969870

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The Memoirs of Catherine the Great by Catherine the Great Pdf

Empress Catherine II brought Europe to Russia, and Russia to Europe, during her long and eventful reign (1762—96). She fostered the culture of the Enlightenment and greatly expanded the immense empire created by Czar Ivan the Terrible, shifting the balance of power in Europe eastward. Famous for her will to power and for her dozen lovers, Catherine was also a prolific and gifted writer. Fluent in French, Russian, and German, Catherine published political theory, journalism, comedies, operas, and history, while writing thousands of letters as she corresponded with Voltaire and other public figures. The Memoirs of Catherine the Great provides an unparalleled window into eighteenth-century Russia and the mind of an absolute ruler. With insight, humor, and candor, Catherine presents her eyewitness account of history, from her whirlwind entry into the Russian court in 1744 at age fourteen as the intended bride of Empress Elizabeth I’s nephew, the eccentric drunkard and future Peter III, to her unhappy marriage; from her two children, several miscarriages, and her and Peter’s numerous affairs to the political maneuvering that enabled Catherine to seize the throne from him in 1762. Catherine’s eye for telling details makes for compelling reading as she describes the dramatic fall and rise of her political fortunes. This definitive new translation from the French is scrupulously faithful to her words and is the first for which translators have consulted original manuscripts written in Catherine’s own hand. It is an indispensable work for anyone interested in Catherine the Great, Russian history, or the eighteenth century.

Author : Catherine II (Empress of Russia)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 362 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 1859
Category : Empresses
ISBN : STANFORD:36105038796822

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Memoirs of the Empress Catherine II. by Catherine II (Empress of Russia) Pdf

Author : Catherine II (Empress of Russia)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 392 pages
File Size : 43,5 Mb
Release : 1937
Category : Russia
ISBN : UCAL:B3466506

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Memoirs of Catherine the Great by Catherine II (Empress of Russia) Pdf

Author : Virginia Rounding
Publisher : Macmillan + ORM
Page : 985 pages
File Size : 50,8 Mb
Release : 2007-02-06
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781429967983

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Catherine the Great by Virginia Rounding Pdf

Dutiful daughter, frustrated wife, passionate lover, domineering mother, doting grandmother, devoted friend, tireless legislator, generous patron of artists and philosophers—the Empress Catherine II, the Great, was all these things, and more. Her reign, the longest in Russian Imperial history, lasted from 1762 until her death in 1796; during those years she built on the work begun by her most famous predecessor, Peter the Great, to establish Russia as a major European power and to transform its new capital, St Petersburg, into a city to rival Paris and London in the beauty of its architecture, the glittering splendor of its Court and the magnificence of its art collections. Yet the great Catherine was not even Russian by birth and had no legitimate claim to the Russian throne; she seized it and held on to it, through wars, rebellions and plagues, by the force of her personality, by her charm and determination, and by an unshakable belief in her own destiny. This is the story of Catherine the woman, whom power alone could never satisfy, for she also wanted love, affection, friendship and humor. She found these in letter-writing, in grandchildren, in gardens, architecture and greyhounds—as well as in a succession of lovers which gave rise to salacious rumors throughout Europe. The real Catherine, however, was more interesting than any rumor. Using many of Catherine's own words from her voluminous correspondence and other documents, as well as contemporary accounts by courtiers, ambassadors and foreign visitors, Virginia Rounding penetrates the character of this most powerful, fascinating and surprisingly sympathetic of eighteenth-century women.

Author : Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (kni︠a︡gini︠a︡)
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 468 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1840
Category : Russia
ISBN : HARVARD:HWR7YJ

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Memoirs of the Princess Daschkaw by Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova (kni︠a︡gini︠a︡) Pdf

Author : Carolly Erickson
Publisher : Unknown
Page : 416 pages
File Size : 45,5 Mb
Release : 1994
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : UOM:39015032104005

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Great Catherine by Carolly Erickson Pdf

Catherine II of Russia occupies a unique position in the European imagination. She belonged to a dying era, the middle and late years of the 18th century, when the European monarchies were lumbering to catastrophe. She ruled a country perceived by Western Europeans to be as barbaric as it was exotic, Asiatic in culture yet not quite outside the pale of Christendom. Within her lifetime the achievements of her reign, which were considerable, were completely overshadowed by the reputation she attained for lechery, sexual voracity and murder.

Author : Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova
Publisher : Ravenio Books
Page : 128 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2014-03-08
Category : History
ISBN : 8210379456XXX

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The Memoirs of Princess Dashkova by Ekaterina Romanovna Dashkova Pdf

Princess Yekaterina Romanovna Vorontsova-Dashkova (1743 – 1810) was a leading figure of the Russian Enlightenment and the closest female friend of Empress Catherine the Great. By her own account, she played a critical role in the coup d'état by which the autocratic Peter III was overthrown and Catherine was raised to the throne. In her travels abroad, she met Diderot, Voltaire and Benjamin Franklin. Catherine later named her the first female head of the Imperial Academy of Arts and Sciences, and then the Russian Academy.

Author : V. O. Kliuchevsky
Publisher : M.E. Sharpe
Page : 268 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 1997-04-18
Category : History
ISBN : 0765638894

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A Course in Russian History by V. O. Kliuchevsky Pdf

In this newly translated excerpt from his magisterial five-volume Course, Kliuchevsky (1841-1911) provides a colorful description of Russian court life in the eighteenth century, a dramatic narrative of the coup d'etat that brought Catherine II to power, a portrait of the empress herself, and an analysis of her foreign conquests and her major internal initiatives. While Kliuchevsky is critical of Catherine, he draws upon her memoirs and other writings and the accounts of her contemporaries to achieve a well-rounded and deeply human analysis of her character and personality. It is an extraordinary act of historical re-creation of the sort that brought Kliuchevsky such renown in his own time, and it remains so lifelike that it fairly leaps off the page. Kliuchevsky's examination of Western influence in Catherine's reign leads him to questions that were of urgent significance for Russia's development in his own day, and have remained so ever since: how to use Western ideas and practices to improve and enrich Russian life without turning them into idle fashions or political bludgeons, and where to find the social leadership capable of performing such a delicate task.

Author : Isabel de Madariaga
Publisher : Yale University Press
Page : 310 pages
File Size : 51,8 Mb
Release : 1991-01-01
Category : History
ISBN : 9780300173444

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Catherine the Great by Isabel de Madariaga Pdf

There is no shortage of biographies of Catherine the Great, of varying quality and degrees of sensationalism. But there exists no brief account of her reign that incorporates the extensive research findings of the last twenty years and presents them accessibly, accurately, and concisely to the student and the general reader. Following her magisterial Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great, Isabel de Madariaga has written the most informative, balanced and up-to-date short study of this spectacular period in Russian history. De Madariaga establishes an authoritative account of the events of Catherine's life, disentangling the myth from the verifiable reality. But her principal aim is to provide an account of the achievements of the thirty-four-year reign. Well-read and intelligent, Catherine presided over a fundamental reorganization of central and local government, of financial administration, of law, and of literary and cultural life. De Madariaga tracks the changes and explains the reforms, placing them in the context of eighteenth-century Europe and the ideas of the Enlightenment and of the French Revolution. Chapters on the wars against the Turkish empire, the annexation of the Crimea in 1783, and the partition of Poland demonstrate Catherine's part in building Russia into a formidable European power. The text is distinguished throughout by the attention paid to historical controversies over the interpretation of Catherine's policies and to teh historiography on the period in general. Praised by French writers of her day and attacked by later historians for her neglect of the welfare of the serfs, Catherine's achievements are now measured against the difficulties she met. The book points to the problems Catherine faced, the human and material resources on which she could draw, and the intellectual climate in which she operated. De Madariaga considers past and present assessments of Catherine and consolidates balanced judgments, profound understanding, and exhaustive reserach into a highly assimilable form.

Author : Robert K. Massie
Publisher : Random House
Page : 673 pages
File Size : 48,7 Mb
Release : 2011-11-08
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781588360441

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Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman by Robert K. Massie Pdf

“[A] tale of power, perseverance and passion . . . a great story in the hands of a master storyteller.”—The Wall Street Journal The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution. Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few stories richer than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, an eternally fascinating woman is returned to life. “[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek “An absorbing, satisfying biography.”—Los Angeles Times “Juicy and suspenseful.”—The New York Times Book Review “A great life, indeed, and irresistibly told.”—Salon NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • USA Today • The Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Newsweek/The Daily Beast • Salon • Vogue • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Providence Journal • Washington Examiner • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • BookPage • Bookreporter • Publishers Weekly BONUS: This edition contains a Catherine the Great reader's guide.

Author : Catherine James
Publisher : St. Martin's Griffin
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 51,9 Mb
Release : 2008-09-02
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 031253101X

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Dandelion by Catherine James Pdf

“The rare celebrity-crammed memoir that would be worth reading even without the bold-faced names."--Kirkus Reviews Catherine James’ neglect by her young, beautiful mother cast a shadow over her Los Angeles childhood and made her long not for normalcy, but just for escape. Escape to her beloved grandmother Mimi, or to her Aunt Claire, a former beauty queen who'd had a glamorous life with ex-husband Busby Berkeley. Escape to her father, a race car driver who had been out of her life almost since the day she was born. Escape even to school, where she would at least be taken care of. Instead, Catherine was finally abandoned by her furious mother to become a ward of the state before she reached her teens. A chance meeting with a very young Bob Dylan inspired Catherine to run away with only one goal: to get to Greenwich Village. Dandelion follows Catherine’s extraordinary life, as she is entranced by Eric Clapton; taken up by the beautiful people in Andy Warhol’s Factory; and begins romances with rockers Jackson Browne and Jimmy Page. While raising her son, whose father was Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and Wings, Catherine finally returns to her West Coast roots, reconnects with her family and discovers that her mother hasn’t changed but her father has: he’s become a heartbreakingly garish transsexual. Moving and shocking by turns, Dandelion is a completely different view of a celebrated pop culture scene, and a fractured mother-daughter relationship. “James’ story…take[s] this movingly written autobiography well beyond the realm of sex, drugs and rock & roll.”—Music Connection

Author : Simon Sebag Montefiore
Publisher : Vintage
Page : 689 pages
File Size : 54,9 Mb
Release : 2021-08-04
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780593467916

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Catherine the Great & Potemkin by Simon Sebag Montefiore Pdf

From the author of The Romanovs: a vivid account of history's most successful political partnership—as sensual and fiery as it was creative and visionary. Catherine the Great was a woman of notorious passion and imperial ambition. Prince Potemkin—wildly flamboyant and sublimely talented—was the love of her life and her co-ruler. Together they seized Ukraine and Crimea, territories that define the Russian sphere of influence to this day. Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement to share power, leaving each of them free to take younger lovers. But these “twin souls” never stopped loving each other. Drawing on the pair’s intimate letters and on vast research, Simon Sebag Montefiore's widely acclaimed biography restores these imperial partners to their rightful place as titans of their age.

Author : Catherine Gildiner
Publisher : ECW Press
Page : 396 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2014-10-01
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9781770906334

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Coming Ashore by Catherine Gildiner Pdf

The third and final volume in the spirited and witty memoir series. Picking up her story in the late '60s at age 21, Cathy Gildiner whisks the reader through five years and three countries, beginning when she is a poetry student at Oxford. Her education extended beyond the classroom to London's swinging Carnaby Street, the mountains of Wales, and a posh country estate. After Oxford, Cathy returns to Cleveland, Ohio, which was still reeling from the Hough Ghetto Riots. Not one to shy away from a challenge, she teaches at a high school where police escort teachers through the parking lot. There, she tries to engage apathetic students and tussles with the education authorities. In 1970, Cathy moves to Canada. While studying literature at the University of Toronto, she rooms with members of the FLQ (Quebec separatists) and then with one of the biggest drug dealers in Canada. Along the way, she falls in love with the man who eventually became her husband and embarks on a new career in psychology. Coming Ashore brings readers back to a fascinating era populated by lively characters, but most memorable of all is the singular Cathy McClure. The BackLit bonus content includes a reader’s guide, Q&A with the author, and more.

Author : Catherine Therese
Publisher : Hachette Australia
Page : 304 pages
File Size : 55,5 Mb
Release : 2015-03-23
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 9780733625947

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The Weight of Silence by Catherine Therese Pdf

A moving and funny childhood memoir ... timeless.' AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY 'This is a special memoir. It is written with great feeling, imagination, humour and originality, and shows a writer with a distinct view of the world within and around her.' AUSTRALIAN BOOKSELLER & PUBLISHER MAGAZINE Do you remember the day you realised you were you? Catherine Therese does and invites you inside her head and upside down on a unique coming-of-age rollercoaster, chased by a purple feather duster through the sticky bitumen suburban streets of her 70s childhood - egged by Bernard King, terrorised by a frizzy-haired hooker with an axe - to going all the way with Meatloaf and a boy with half a thumb, in her achingly funny, intensely moving memoir ... The story of a girl losing and finding herself in the secrets that shape her life; the power of family, silence, language, grog and love ... of becoming who you truly are. A mother before she's a woman; a girl who carries a shard of windscreen glass, votes for herself and believes in holding rain. THE WEIGHT OF SILENCE is a brave beautiful book that will break your heart and mend it in the same breath.