Catherine the Great - Portrait of a Woman

Once upon a time, there was a minor German princess named Sophia. She went on to become the world's richest and most powerful woman, ruler of its then-largest empire, revered as "Catherine the Great." Her accomplishments and shortcomings as an autocrat and a woman make for a remarkable saga, and though many have tried, there may be no better author to take on the daunting task of chronicling than Robert K. Massie, a seasoned biographer of the 400-year Romanov dynasty, most notably with Peter the Great: His Life and World, which won a 1981 Pulitzer Prize.

Massie situates Catherine's early life and three-decade reign amidst the tumult of the European Enlightenment, enriching his own narrative with telling excerpts of her letters and rich discussions of her political environment and personal motivations. The result is an utterly memorable book, a towering accomplishment, one of the year's best in any genre.