Robert K. Massie Books

Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Peter the Great, who embodied the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Russia

The thundering battles on the high seas during World War I are explored by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of "Dreadnaught." Photo insert.

A gripping chronicle of the personal and national rivalries that led to the twentieth century’s first great arms race, this work by Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie showcases his rare talent for capturing extraordinary lives. He vividly portrays a cast of influential figures, including the determined Admiral von Tirpitz, the ambitious Winston Churchill, the cunning Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow, Britain’s esteemed foreign secretary Sir Edward Grey, and the innovative Admiral Jacky Fisher, who transformed the British navy with the H.M.S. Dreadnought. Their intertwined stories reflect an era marked by misunderstandings and missed opportunities, unfolding like a Greek tragedy in a powerful narrative. The book is both intimate and dramatic, presenting history in its most riveting form. Praise highlights its grand storytelling, with Time noting it as history shaped by individuals, while the Chicago Sun-Times calls it a classic that superbly encapsulates an entire era through its captivating characters. The Wall Street Journal commends Massie's grand scale and masterful historical portraiture, and the Los Angeles Times praises his evocative detail in nautical themes, making this work a compelling exploration of a pivotal moment in history.

The compelling quest to solve a great mystery of the twentieth century: the ultimate fate of Russia's last tsar and his family. In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. Were these the bones of the Romanovs? If so, why were the bones of the two younger Romanovs missing? Was Anna Anderson, celebrated in newspapers, books, and film, really Grand Duchess Anastasia? This book unearths the truth. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie presents a colourful panorama of contemporary characters, illuminating the major scientific dispute between Russian experts and a team of Americans, whose findings – along with those of DNA scientists from Russia, America, and the UK – all contributed to solving one of history's most intriguing mysteries.

The story of the love that ended an empire. In this commanding book, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of Imperial Russia to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.

"A book to astonish readers: never before has Stalin's Gulag been the setting for a love affair. This powerful narrative by a distinguished historian will take its place not just in history but in literature." -- Robert K. Massie, author of Catherine the Great Author of Natasha's Dance and The Crimean War In 1946, after five years as a prisoner--first as a Soviet Union POW in Nazi concentration camps, then as a deportee (falsely accused of treason) in Russia's Arctic Gulag--twenty-nine-year-old Lev Mishchenko unexpectedly received a letter from Sveta, the sweetheart he had hardly dared hope was still alive. Amazingly, over the next eight years the lovers managed to exchange more than 1,500 messages, and even to smuggle Sveta herself into the camp for secret meetings. Their recently discovered correspondence is the only known real-time record of life in Stalin's Gulag, unmediated and uncensored. Orlando Figes draws on Lev and Sveta's letters as well as KGB archives and recent interviews to brilliantly reconstruct the broader world in which their story unfolded. With the powerful narrative drive of a novel, Just Send Me Word reveals a passion and endurance that triumphed over the tragic forces of history.

Pulitzer Prize winner Massie offers the tale of a princess who went to Russia at 14 and became one of the most powerful women in history. Born into minor German nobility, she transformed herself into an empress by sheer determination. Possessing a brilliant, curious mind, she devoured the works of Enlightenment philosophers, and reaching the throne, tried using their principles to rule the vast, backward empire. She knew or corresponded with notable figures of her time: Voltaire, Diderot, Frederick the Great, Maria Theresa of Austria, Marie Antoinette & John Paul Jones. Wanting to be the “benevolent despot” Montesquieu idealized, she contended with the deeply ingrained realities of Russian life, including serfdom. She persevered, and for 34 years the government, foreign policy, cultural development and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, wars & the tides of political change and violence inspired by the French Revolution. Her reputation depended on the perspective of the speaker. She was praised by Voltaire as like the classical philosophers. She was condemned by enemies, mostly foreign, as “the Messalina of the north.” Her family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers and enemies are vividly described. These included her ambitious, scheming mother; her weak, bullying husband, Peter (who left her sexually untouched for nine years after their marriage); her unhappy son & heir, Paul; her beloved grandchildren; and her favorites—the young men from whom she sought companionship and the recapture of youth as well as sex. Here, too, is Gregory Potemkin, her most significant lover & possible husband, with whom she shared a correspondence of love & separation, followed by 17 years of unparalleled mutual achievement. All the qualities that Massie brought to Nicholas & Alexandra and Peter the Great are present: historical accuracy, deep understanding, felicity of style, mastery of detail, ability to shatter myth & a genius for finding and expressing a human drama.

Massie jest mistrzem historycznej opowieści, imponuje niesamowitym literackim rzemiosłem… Max Boot, The New York Times Book Review Przedstawił każdą postać z artystyczną wizją pisarza… napisana z pasją opowieść o ludziach z epoki pierwszej wojny światowej… The Waszyngton Post Book World Wspaniałe, niewyobrażalne osiągnięcie …Książka napisana lekkim, świetnie się czytającym stylem oparta na benedyktyńskiej pracy historyka... Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Żywy opis postaci i wydarzeń… mistrz gawędziarstwa… w tym rodzaju historycznego pisarstwa wątpię, by Massie miał sobie równego Paul Kennedy, Los Angeles Time Book Reviev Półmisek wypełniony smakowitymi opisami postaci. Wielka, wspaniała lektura… New York Post Robert K. Massie Urodzony w 1929 roku w Lexington. Studiował na Uniwersytecie w Yale i Oxfordzie, dziennikarz, zdobywca Nagrody Pulitzera, jeden z najpoczytniejszych współczesnych pisarzy historycznych na świecie. „Stalowe Fortece” są kontynuacją świetnego „Dreadnoughta” wydanego przed kilku laty w Polsce.