Peter the Great: The Creation of Modern Russia 1672-1725

The life of Peter the Great, written by the American historian Robert Massie. The author shows Peter in his early years and sketches his struggle for power and his attempts to make Russia a great power militarily, technically and culturally. St. Petersburg, founded by him, became the symbol of his orientation towards Europe. This fascinatingly written biography can be read as a novel. For his extensive work, the author consulted many original sources in England, the Netherlands and the Soviet Union. Massie received the Pulitzer Prize for this book. It is the most extensive biography of the tsar that has been published in Dutch to date. In addition to the solid historical study of Th.JG Locher on Peter the Great (Amsterdam, 1947), biographies translated into Dutch in the form of a historical novel by A. de Jonge (Baarn, 1980) and H. Troyat (86-32-139-0) have been published. Broadcast as a TV series a few years ago.