Reddit reviews Peter the Great: His Life and World

Peter the Great was really into boats and easily offended. He was an indolent young prince not much concerned with his birthright, but as soon as his sister tried to seize power, he went from playing with boats in lakes to making Russia a first-rate power and founding the Russian navy. For more info, I recommend Robert K. Massie's Peter the Great.

Robert K. Massie's biography on Peter the Great is absolutely fantastic, and it is highly recommended. It has a fantastically detailed account of the rise of the Russian Army under Peter's rule.

Also, if you haven't read any of Massie's books before, you will be hooked. He is one of the better writers out there. Enjoy!

I don't remember the page, but Robert Massie talks about it in his biography of Peter the Great. Apparently he started bear hunting with a pike and sword, but decided that it wasn't fair to hunt with steel, so he switched to a wooden pitchfork like implement. Fantastic book actually, a must read if you have any interest in Russia or the late 18th century.

http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Great-Robert-K-Massie/dp/0345298063

You don't need to know Russian history to love and learn from Dostoevsky.

I agree that the Pevear and Volokhonsky translations are the best.

If you do want to read Russian history I recommend:

The Icon and the Axe is truly foundational, you have to read this book if you want to understand Russia and join the conversation about Russian history

Massie's biography of Peter the Great is one of the best books I've ever read. Reads like a novel, amazing story of Russia's move from a medieval/dark ages mentality to an enlightenment/scientific mindset. His bio of Catherine is also good--but his Peter is a classic across disciplines.

This is the best recent biography of Stalin.

Happy reading. Russian history is a hole you go into and don't easily come out. So much there, so interesting, so horrifying, so engrossing. American history is all about optimism (from the the non-native perspective). Russian history is all about suffering--from every perspective.

hmmmm... well, not much that Ive read fall under that price range. Do you like in the USA, can you use Amazon?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/0786884517/ref=mp_s_a_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1495585796&sr=8-6&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=pirate+biography&dpPl=1&dpID=51-foWCviEL&ref=plSrch

That one is 9-10 dollars, the story of Captain Kidd. If you dont mind used editions some of the stuff by Robert K Massie is under 5 dollars for print.

Dreadnought is about Britain and Germany gearing up do WW1

Peter the Great was one of the most famous Tsars of Russia

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/0345298063/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

Ghenghis Khan and The Making of The Modern world was fascinating

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/0609809644/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

The republic of Pirates was pretty interesting too

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/ol/015603462X/ref=mw_dp_olp?ie=UTF8&condition=all

i linked to used books, so be aware of that - i buy almost all of my books used in "good" or "great" condition and have no complaints so far.

http://www.amazon.com/Peter-Great-His-Life-World/dp/0345298063


The best book i have ever read.