The Memoirs of Catherine the Great

(Paperback)

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Empress Catherine II brought Europe to Russia, and Russia to Europe, during her long and eventful reign (1762-96). She fostered the culture of the Enlightenment and greatly expanded the immense empire created by Czar Ivan the Terrible, shifting the balance of power in Europe eastward. Famous for her will to power and for her dozen lovers, Catherine was also a prolific and gifted writer.

Reviews

Advance praise for The Memoirs of Catherine the Great

Superb. The translation of the Memoirs is fluid, accessible, and idiomatic, while remaining accurate and as delightful as the original. Students will heartily enjoy this excursion into the historical and literary world of the great empress.
Cynthia Hyla Whittaker, professor and chair, Department of History, Baruch College/CUNY

Several translations of the memoirs of Catherine the Great have been published before, but none of them can compare with this latest edition. Mark Cruse and Hilde Hoogenboom have produced a masterpiece. Their translation fairly sings, capturing with stunning virtuosity all the beguiling wit and charm that make these memoirs one of the most fascinating works ever penned by a European monarch.
Douglas Smith, editor and translator of Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin

Catherine the Greats memoirs are a classic and almost unique record of personality and power, the work of one of historys greatest and most alluring leaders but also of a young girl trapped in a sinister court and a miserable marriagethis new edition is the best for decades and the one for both general and scholarly readers to use.
Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Potemkin: Catherine the Greats Imperial Partner and Stalin: The Court of the Red Tsar

A richly textured account of the turbulent years the young Grand Duchess spent at the court of the Empress Elizabeth. No serious student of Catherines life and reign will want to be without this splendid new edition. It casts a completely new light on the composition of the Empresss extraordinary memoirs.
Professor Simon M. Dixon, chairman, School of History, University of Leeds

Catherines memoirs are one of the most fascinating documents of the eighteenth century. This translation will give the English-speaking audience a unique chance to learn about the life of this extraordinary woman from her own story.
Professor Alexandr Kamenskii, chair, Early and Early Modern Russian History, The Russian State University for the Humanities

This fluent and unabridged translation of one of the most remarkable documents of eighteenth-century history, based on the original French manuscript of the text that Catherine revised in 1794, is preceded by a substantial scholarly preface tracing the fascinating story of the memoirs composition, sources, literary style, and fate after Catherines death. Researchers, teachers, and general readers alike will welcome this book.
Lindsey Hughes, University College London

Author Bio

About the Translators Mark Cruse has a Ph.D. in French literature from New York University and teaches at Arizona State University. Hilde Hoogenboom received her Ph.D. in Russian literature from Columbia University and teaches Russian and translation at the State University of New York at Albany.