Tsar Peter the Great

The subject of Robert Massie's massive biography, Peter the Great is the son of Tsar Alexis and his second wife, Natalya Naryshkina. Alexis' first wife leaves two live sons, but they are for physical reasons unlikely candidates for the throne. When grown, Peter stands an impressive six foot seven inches tall, with an angular body, slim shoulders, long arms and hands, calloused hands, a round, almost-handsome face with a small mustache and long, straight, auburn hair. He is a man of titanic energy, unable to sit still. He suffers a mortifying nerve disorder that ranges from a small tic to full convulsions (falling short of grand-mal epilepsy). At an early age he sees his relatives brutally slaughtered before his eyes, an image that never leaves him and inspires him to destroy the perpetrators, the Streltsy guards.

Reluctantly accepting popular acclamation as Tsar following his half-brother...