Catherine, Empress of All The Russias - Tapa blanda

Catherine II, Empress of all the Russias, was the archetypal Enlightenment monarch. She reigned for more than 30 years, and during that time, as politician, diplomat, commander-in-chief, educator, builder, picture-collector, lover, mother, playwright, writer of fairy stories, autobiographer and indefatigable correspondent, she reformed and developed her largely unenlightened and backward country. Yet this woman, who at the age of 33, after 17 years of unhappy marriage, placed her deposed and murdered husband's crown on her own head, had begun life as an insignificant German princess. Catherine is interesting today not only as one of the most effective sovereigns of the late eighteenth century, but also as a determined career woman and head of government who dominated a vast empire as easily as she did her lovers and her court.

Vincent Cronin is well known for his historical biographies and for his two-volume history of the Renaissance ("Probably the best book that has ever been written on the Renaissance" Times Educational Supplement). His other historical biographies include Louis and Antoinette, Catherine, Empress of All the Russias and Napoleon, the last of which has been translated into eight languages and is a standard biography both in Britain and in France ("To present Napoleon plausibly... takes nerve, originality, prodigious powers of research and a true historical imagination" Michael Foot, Standard). His most recent book is Paris on the Eve 1900-1914, a collective portrait of the key figures in art, literature, science and politics in the cultural capital of Europe on the eve of the First World War. His dual biography of Louis and Antoinette ("an impressive addition to the small list of biographies that are neither journalism nor Christmas pudding" Robin Lane Fox) and his biography of Louis XIV ("The most sympathetic account of Louis XIV as a man we have" A. L. Rowse), are also available as Harvill Paperbacks.