Thorough albeit endless biography of Peter the Great, with bonus extensive background on 16th and 17th century geopolitics across Europe and Asia Minor. Extremely useful despite its length. If you can make it through this 900-page book you'll become a minor expert on Peter, but more importantly you'll have good context on the major European leaders of Peter's era: Charles XII of Sweden, Louis XIV of France, William of Orange, Augustus II of Poland and Saxony, Leopold I of the Holy Roman Empire, Frederick I of Prussia and more. These were the giants (and runts, depending) who shaped European history--and because history rhymes, their actions can help explain and even predict what's happening in Europe today. For a blatant example: we all know that Hitler would have done well to better note Napoleon's catastrophic war with Russia. But Napoleon would have done well to better note Charles II of Sweden's similarly catastrophic war with Russia a century earlier. Swe...
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