Series: Great Lives

The fascinating true story behind HBO's Catherine the Great starring Dame Helen Mirren as Catherine the Great awaits readers in Robert K. Massie's masterful biography. Born into a minor noble family, young Sophia transformed herself into Catherine, Empress of Russia, through sheer determination and political acumen. Her ascent to power is nothing short of extraordinary, marked by strategic marriages, cunning...

Join pastor and bestselling author Charles Swindoll as he explores the lives of 13 biblical hidden figures whose stories have remained in the shadows of history for long enough. Somehow life has taught us poorly. We're trained to think that the most significant people are star athletes, actors, and musicians—the ones we applaud, those whose autographs we seek, or those...

The extraordinary story of Frederick Bruce Thomas, the son of former slaves who fled America to build a life in Tsarist Russia. 'A fascinating tale' Anne Applebaum'Thoroughly enjoyable' Spectator'Extraordinary and gripping' Adam Hochschild After the brutal death of his father when he was a teenager, Frederick Thomas fled the stifling racism of the American South and headed for New York...

The Pulitzer prizewinning biography of Peter the Great, the ruler who brought Russia from darkness into light. Against the monumental canvas of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Europe and Russia, Robert K. Massie unfolds the extraordinary story of Peter the Great. A volatile feudal tsar with a taste for barbaric torture; a progressive and enlightened reformer of government and science; Peter the...