Catherine the Great : Life and Legend (Oxford Lives)

Empress of the vast Russian Empire by the age of 33, Catherine's private and public life generated tremendous contemporary controversy, and she has subsequently been portrayed variously as a political genius, a despotic foreign adventuress, a tyrant, and a nymphomaniac. Drawing on little-known sources, including Catherine's billets doux , John Alexander has produced a much-needed balanced appraisal and popular biography of one of the most powerful, infamous, and colourful figures in modern history.