Catherine The Great by Robert K. Massie
7 out of 10At age 13, the minor German princess Sofia was invited to marry her second cousin Peter III--heir to the Russian throne and grandson of Peter the Great. She was baptized by the Orthodox Church and her name was changed to Catherine II. Not long after her incompetent husband became czar, Catherine rallied support for a coup d'etat to put herself on the throne. Her love of knowledge, quest for humanitarianism and impeccable political skills made her great. The times in which she lived contained Enlightenment thinkers, but also pervasive imperialism, wars of reformation, uprisings, serfdom and regicide. A less adept leader most surely would have cultivated a more anemic Russian Empire.