Peter the great robert massie review7/2/2023 ![]() ![]() Let me set aside those worries by first giving you a glimpse into the historical context. What could an American historian possibly understand about a Russian king? Would it be yet another piece of Reagan-era Russophobia? Anti-communist propaganda? A diatribe on Russia's backwardness? A compelling case for capitalism? Most importantly: 800 pages? Really? I began the novel with a set of preconceived notions, or rather, worries. ![]() And with Peter the Great, he delivers a beautiful American tribute to a man with “American Dream” activism – a man who isn't an American. Put simply, the author is an American historian writing for an American audience. ![]() Palmer's A History of the Modern World into textbook retirement, Massie cannot escape the influences of his environment. Though Massie sidesteps the Russophobic tendencies that will soon send R.R. Penned by an American historian during the 1981 tensions of the misguided Cold War, it turns out to be an eloquent and erudite narrative of a dedicated leader who transformed a primitive realm. Massie's Peter the Great: His Life and World is an oddity. It took just the copyright page to discover that Robert K. ![]()
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