Peter the Great

His Life and World

By: Robert K. Massie

Narrated by: Frederick Davidson

Length: 43 hrs and 38 mins

Publisher's summary

This superbly told story brings to life one of the most remarkable rulers––and men––in all of history and conveys the drama of his life and world. The Russia of Peter's birth was very different from the Russia his energy, genius, and ruthlessness shaped. Crowned co-Tsar as a child of ten, after witnessing bloody uprisings in the streets of Moscow, he would grow up propelled by an unquenchable curiosity, everywhere looking, asking, tinkering, and learning, fired by Western ideas.

We see Peter in his 20s traveling "incognito" with his ambassadors to the courts of Europe; as the victorious soldier proclaimed Emperor; as the simple workman at his forge; and as the visionary statesman who single-handedly created a formidable world power. Impetuous and stubborn, bawdy and stern, relentless in his perseverance, he was capable of the greatest generosity and the greatest cruelty.

©1980 Robert K. Massie (P)1991 Blackstone Audio, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Enthralling.... As fascinating as any novel and more so than most!" ( New York Times Book Review)

Comprehensive, but oddly-accented narrator

Listen to the sample before buying this book. The narrator has an extremely unusual British accent, and this book is LONG, so make sure you can tolerate it. The performance isn't bad, but it's definitely different.

That said, this is a magnificent and comprehensive biography not only of Peter but also of the Europe that surrounded him. The author covers every inch of Peter's reign, from his diplomatic and military triumphs to his personal obsessions and relationships. Included for critical context of Peter's reign are deep summaries of other European rulers of the day including Louis the 14th and William of Orange, and the book essentially contains a sub-biography of Charles the 12th, Peter's archnemesis whose Swedish army nearly destroyed the Russian Empire before it started. If you are looking for not only a biography but a history of Northeastern Europe at the turn of the 18th century, it would be hard to do better.

A full history.

The history starts before he was born. It gives a good solid history of each person that plays a meaningful role in the story of Peter. It keeps up the interest to the last minutes of the book.

My only criticism is the narrator has a lisp. It is not bad but it is noticeable.

Superb textbook that reads like a novel

It's not just Peter's history, this fantastic book fills in the background of every important monarch in Europe in the early 18th Century. A must for Russian literature fans, it sets the stage for all the upheavals to come. If you want to know what is meant by that vague phrase, the Russian soul, Peter's life and struggles will explain that too. The book is crammed with major events, social trends, commercial enterprises, international diplomacy, embassies, inventions, institutions, characters, and above all, war, war, war. Monster or visionary? Both in abundance. You wouldn't want to be part of his family, but after experiencing all he went through, all he wrought and all he tried to do, you become almost emotionally attached to this unique individual. The perfect companion to a library filled with Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pushin and Gogol.

Excellent but in desperate need of a remaster

The content is phenomenal - I've never had a 40 hour book go by so quickly. Massie did a tremendous job of painting the Russia and Europe that Peter lived in with vivid detail and anecdotes about small events that truly add color to the history. I also loved how he devoted some time to the back stories of the other important figures in the narrative, such as Charles XII, Louis XIV, and William of Orange, which added context for those like me who don't have an encyclopedic knowledge of European history. Truly one of the best biographies I've listened to.

It's not fair to knock off an entire star but this audio quality really needs work - you can tell it was recorded ages ago. I think my ears got used to it eventually, but it might have been at the cost of some of the cells in my cochleas. I don't believe the Audible app has an equalizer, which is unfortunate because I did most of my listening through headphones at work. For the few hours that I listened while in the car, I found the sound to be unbearably painful (at sufficient volume to hear the words over the sounds of the road) until I turned the treble down all the way - this made the recording much more tolerable, albeit still low quality by today's standards. I strongly recommend someone run the book through a filter - even if it doesn't become perfect, the next listeners could have a much better experience than I did, and this book deserves it.

Terrible presenter

The readers accent is ridiculous. It is distracting and cartoonish. Additionally he injects his own opinion into the inflection of his voice

Great review of that era

This was a great review of that era. This includes France ,Dutch Swedish and English

Essential book for European History

Starting out a little daunted by the 43+ hours of life I would have to devote to the recording of this book, after not too long I would look forward each day to my time devoted to listening to this tome. Massie has done an exhaustive job of describing Peter the Great as well as Europe and the Ottoman Empire of the time. I am so glad to have listened to this book. The in depth research and writing about many other characters including Charies XII of Sweden was probably not strictly necessary in a bio of Peter the Great. However, I am glad to know so much more of the era and its players. Audio books have greatly progressed since their inception in the late ‘70s, and ‘80s. There were certain expectations in the early days about how a narrator should sound - Mr. Davidson to our current day ears for the most part does not help the book, although his ability to impeccably pronounce words regardless of their origin is admirable. I did find that I had to ignore his annoying snobby accent and got used to the lisp and the loss of audio quality especially at the end of sentences. in his day, Davidson was a prolific audiobook narrator - his Wikipedia entry is quite interesting. I think that this book justifies an audiobook re-make to better suit our modern ears and to improve its audio quality, which would probably help with sales in light of all the negative reviews about the audio. This is such an important work, and provides a lot of background into the present day, everyone should read it.

That was great.

This was quite an encyclopedia on Czar Peter. It is quite long and detailed, due to that it was hard to finish. However, the info in this book was clear and easy to digest. I wouldn't recommend it if you just want a rough idea on Peter the Great, because this will give you everything.

Remarkable Man....Fantastic Book!

Absolutely loved this book. I read it about 10 years ago and decided to give the audio book a try as well. It is easily one of the best biographies I have ever read. You don't have to be a Russian history enthusiast to enjoy this book. Anybody who enjoys European history, sailing or military history will take something away from this book. 5 big stars on this one!!

Engaging history

I was intimidated by the length but wanted a deeper understanding of this period of history. The material is beautifully written even and engaging. The performance is a little annoying but the reading and execution is at a high level even so. Worth the investment.