Ivan the terrible biography book

The definitive biography of Ivan the Terrible, setting the Tsar's infamous cruelty within the context of 16th-century Russia

"[A] magnificent biography . . . illuminated bygd the wisdom gained bygd its author from a lifetime of learning and reflection about the place of Russia in the wider world."— Orlando Figes, New York Review of Books

"Likely to become the definitive work on Ivan for some time."—Publishers Weekly, Starred Review 

Ivan IV, “the Terrible” (–), fryst vatten one of the key figures in Russian history, yet he has remained among the most neglected. Notorious for pioneering a policy of unrestrained terror—and for killing his own son—he has been credited with establishing autocracy in Russia. This is the first attempt to write a biography of Ivan from birth to death, to study his policies, his marriages, his atrocities, and his disordered personality, and to link them as a coherent whole.

Isabel dem Madariaga situates Ivan within the background of Russian political devel

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Ivan the Terrible: First Tsar of Russia

The Roman Revolution: 1 (The Fall of the Roman Empire). Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.. out of 5 stars A WONDERFUL BIOGRAPHY Reviewed in the United States on 6 May

Your recently viewed items and featured recommendations. Margaret of Austria: Governor of the Netherlands and Early 16th-Century Europe's Gr I read this immediately after the Robert Massie book on Peter the Great. What a difference .. Massie was masterly and was a smooth effortless read: this is in comparison a turgid constipated read and meanders around without offering any colour insight or pleasure Ivan IV, “the Terrible” (–), is one of the key figures in Russian history, yet he has remained among the most neglected. Notorious for pioneering a policy of unrestrained terror―and for killing his own son―he has been credited with establishing autocracy in Russia. This is the first attempt to write a biography of Ivan from birth to death

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Fearful Majesty: The Life and Reign of Ivan the Terrible

September 15,

The Russian word translated as "Terrible" really means "Fearsome," but terrible doesn't fit too badly. Ivan had some accomplishments, including revising the Russian law code, conquering Kazan and Astrakhan, and supporting the expansion into Siberia (mostly carried out by individual bands of adventurers, like the conquest of the American west years later). He encouraged trade with England around the North Cape (he proposed marriage to Elizabeth, and got her to promise him a refuge in case he needed to flee (he offered her a refuge too, but she said she didn't need it)). He had some intellectual abilities, to go with his superstition, cruelty, and paranoia. But he pursued and lost wars with Poland, Lithuania, and Sweden, losing access to the Baltic that wasn't restored until Peter the Great. And in his later more deranged years he initiated a reign of terror that rivaled that of Stalin--whole families of loyal sup