Books like Peter the Great by Henri Troyat

The reign of Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra, the final chapter of the Romanov dynasty, and the influence of Rasputin, told through rich narrative and rare photographs.

A biography of the tsar who began the transformation of Russia into a modern state in the late seventeenth-early eighteenth centuries.

A captivating biography of Queen Victoria, exploring her reign and the social changes she experienced as head of the British Empire.

"Linking together and transcending Peter's many reforms of state and society, Cracraft argues, was nothing less than a cultural revolution. New ways of dress, elite social behavior, navigation, architecture, and image-making emerged along with expansive vocabularies for labeling new objects and activities. Russians learned how to build and sail warships; train, supply, and command a modern army; operate a new-style bureaucracy; conduct diplomacy on a par with the other European states; apply modern science and conceptualize the new governing system. Throughout, Peter remains the central figure, and Cracraft discusses the shaping events of the tsar's youth, his inner circle, the resistance his reforms engendered, and the founding of the city that would embody his vision - St. Petersburg, which celebrated its tercentenary in spring 2003"--Jacket.