Peter the GreatPeter the Great
Score Classic
What it's about
Peter the Great was nearly seven feet tall, endlessly curious and capable of great cruelty. Becoming tsar as a boy, he was determined to drag Russia into the modern world. He traveled through Western Europe in disguise to learn shipbuilding, built a navy, defeated Sweden in a long war, founded St. Petersburg on a swamp, and forced the Russian nobility to change how they dressed, worked and lived. Robert Massie tells his story in full.
Why it's worth reading
It won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. Massie writes history like a novel, and this is one of the most entertaining biographies of a ruler ever written.
You'll love it if you liked
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt
Washington: A Life
War and PeaceGood to know
It's around 900 pages, but moves quickly. Peter's treatment of his son is disturbing.
By the numbers
- Readers72 out of 100 · counts 42%
- Critics81 out of 100 · counts 34% (its stronger lane)
- Bestseller10 out of 100 · counts 14%
- Buzz0 out of 100 · counts 10%
Critics and Bestseller are two ways to earn a place: a book's stronger one counts more. Buzz rewards recent bestseller weeks and prizes, so older books start at zero. The parts combine into the Must-Read Score, shown on a scale where the best book we found scores 99 and the last book to make the ranking scores 50.
Where it ranks
- #76 of the 290 memoirs and biographies we rank
- #117 of the 762 classics we rank
- #375 of the 2,816 books we rank
Why it made the list
Reads as
True story
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Quick answers
Is Peter the Great worth reading?
Yes. It won the Pulitzer Prize for biography. It ranks #375 of the 2,816 books in our ranking, with a Must-Read Score of 80.3 (the best book we found scores 99).
What is Peter the Great about?
Peter the Great was nearly seven feet tall, endlessly curious and capable of great cruelty. Becoming tsar as a boy, he was determined to drag Russia into the modern world. He traveled through Western Europe in disguise to learn shipbuilding, built a navy, defeated Sweden in a long war, founded St. Petersburg on a swamp, and forced the Russian nobility to change how they dressed, worked and lived. Robert Massie tells his story in full.
How long does it take to read Peter the Great?
About 23 hours (928 pages), or about 7 weeks at 30 minutes a day.
What awards has Peter the Great won?
Pulitzer Prize (Biography) winner (1981).
What should I read after Peter the Great?
If you liked it, try The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris, Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow or War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy.