Books by Simon Dixon
“Dixon’s achievement is to bring together Catherine’s policy and her personality. It’s a highly challenging question—when you analyse an absolute ruler where does the person ends and the state begin? What is personal and what political?… Dixon succeeds wonderfully in a very short space, in bringing together her vision, her personal impact, her policy, the actual problems she faced during her reign and the realisation of them. It’s a very skilful book, weaving all this together.” Read more...
The best books on Catherine the Great
Andrei Zorin, Historian
Interviews where books by Simon Dixon were recommended
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1
Russia in the Age of Catherine the Great
by Isabel de Madariaga -
2
Catherine the Great
by Simon Dixon -
3
Catherine the Great and Potemkin: The Imperial Love Affair
by Simon Sebag Montefiore -
4
Selected Letters of Catherine the Great
by Catherine the Great -
5
Working the Rough Stone: Freemasonry and Society in 18th Century Russia
by Douglas Smith
The best books on Catherine the Great, recommended by Andrei Zorin
The best books on Catherine the Great, recommended by Andrei Zorin
She was born in 1729 as Sophie of Anhalt-Zerbst, a German princess, but by 1762 had become Empress of All Russia and went on to rule for 34 years as Catherine II. She regarded herself as an enlightened despot who embraced the ideas of the Enlightenment and consorted with the French philosophes. Russian historian Andrei Zorin introduces the remarkably industrious and able politician who is remembered as Catherine the Great.
