Fire and Water: A Life of Peter the Great.
De Jonge, Alex.
Place Published: New York, New York, U.S.A.:
Publisher: Coward Mc Cann,
Date Published: 1980.
Description: STATED FIRST AMERICAN EDTION. The book is NEAR FINE with pencil price on upper corner of ffep. The dust jacket is FINE. NOT price-clipped and NOT remaindered. 279 pages with index plus 8 pages black & white photos. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke & Duchess of Windsor..and other curious subjects. Dust jacket notes read: "Peter in every sense of the word: Towering at six feet nine inches and of prodigious physical strength, he shocked the eighteenth-century Western world while forcing Russia, a land of exotic extremes, headlong into it. In 1689, when Peter became czar at age seventeen, Russia was bound by Muscovite tradition, a conservative and religious land that was nonetheless the scene of chaotic barbarism. Peter was one of the most excessive Russians of all: He hated to sleep alone and would use his orderlies as pillows; he hated to drink alone and I would command that his companions keep up with his prodigious capacity for vodka-causing the deaths of several of them; he caused a scandal in Paris by ruffling the hair of King Louis XV. Peter was ruthless with those he considered his enemies, even if they were members of his family: He had his son Alexei tortured to death in the belief he was not fit to succeed him, and he had one of the lovers of his wife Catherine, future empress of Russia, decapitated and the bloody head smuggled into her bedroom in the belief that she was hatching a conspiracy against the czar. Although Peter broke every rule of protocol and most of the rules of the church, he did so, Mr. de Jonge argues, for a reason -to open the window to Western culture. Indeed, Peter was truly the father of modern Russia. He extended Russia's boundaries; his rule brought rapid advances in industry, agriculture, medicine, and education; and he built his own city, St. Petersburg, as his imperial capital and personal playground. Peter captivates the imagination to this day as Russia's most enigmatic and extraordinary czar, a man of vast energy and intellect. Fire & Water is an entertaining, impeccably researched and comprehensive portrait of one of the most important figures in the history of the world."
Edition: First editionBinding: Hard Back
Condition: Near Fine in Fine dj
ISBN: 0698110188
Book Id: 7222
Price: $16.50
