SHORTLISTED FOR THE SAMUEL JOHNSON PRIZE 2001
PRINCE OF PRINCES
THE LIFE OF
POTEMKIN
Fascinating...this highly ambitious biography has
succeeded triumphantly' Antony Beevor, Sunday Times
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE
Prince of Princes The Life of Potemkin
'This splendidly written biography...Not only does it retrieve Potemkin and his eccentric career from historical obscurity, it helps bring to life all of aristocratic, 18th century Russia. Could easily have been double the length so enjoyable is it' AnnЈ Applebaum, Sunday Telegraph
Prince Grigory Potemkin was Catherine the Great's lover, secret husband and partner in ruling the Russian Empire. Catherine called him 'one of the greatest, strangest and wittiest eccentrics' of her epoch - her 'twin soul', 'tiger' and 'darling husband'; her 'hero' and 'master' in politics.
Their affair was so tumultuous that they negotiated an arrangement allowing them to share power, leaving Potemkin free to love his beautiful nieces, and Catherine, her favourites. But they never stopped loving each other.
After five years' new research in archives from St. Petersburg to Odessa, Montefiore brings blazingly to life Potemkin's loving partnership with Catherine and restores him to his rightful place as an outstandingly gifted statesman, and a colossus of the eighteenth century.
' A terrific read...Book of the Year' Antonia Fraser, BBC History Magazine
'Excellent with dazzling mastery of detail and literary flair... Book of the Year...One of the great love-stories of history in a league with Napoleon and Josephine and Antony and Cleopatra' Economist
PHOENIX PRESS NON-FICTION/HISTORY £9.99 IN UK ONLY
'Magnificent...' Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail
'Superb' Frank McLynn, Financial Times
Cover: Prince Potemkin-Tavrichesky by G.B. Lampi (attrib.) Suvorov Museum, St. Petersburg
Spine: Catherine II by A. Roslin / Hermitage, St. Petersburg
Cover design: Killian Strong
PRINCE OF PRINCES
'This wonderful history book!'
Jeremy Paxman, Start the Week, Radio Four
'If you want a good racy historical read, Prince of Princes certainly provides it! Book of the Year.' Antonia Fraser, Sunday Telegraph
'Potemkin opened up a whole world ... to me. Book of the Year.'
Alain de Botton, Sunday Telegraph
'Montefiore's enthusiasm and knowledge make this more than just an engaging biography - it's a headlong gallop of a read. Potemkin was a scandalous, promiscuous and fascinating character. Through Montefiore's panoramic study, one clearly sees the split character of Russia itself. Book of the Year.'
Antony Beevor, Mail on Sunday
'Superb ..Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph
'His object in this exhaustive and beautifully written biography is to rescue Potemkin from 200 years of defamation ... a biography as industrious and exuberant as the man himself vividly brings to life his cast of conspirators, aristocratic mistresses, dandies, adventurers and diplomats.' Christopher Hudson, Daily Mail
'This magnificent biography beautifully brings out ... the heroic and mesmerising tale of one of history's greatest love affairs whose passion puts Antony and Cleopatra in the second league.'
Petronella Wyatt, Independent
'The best new book I've read this year and indeed for several years. Impeccably researched, beautifully written, it takes us at an unslackening pace through the colourful life of one of the most legendary Russians - war hero, politician, visionary and lover.'
Simon Heffer, Daily Mail
'A superb, passionate but scholarly defence of one of the greatest figures of Russian history. With this lavish biography, Montefiore has announced himself as a historian who deserves to be taken seriously.' Victor Sebestyen, Evening Standard
This bulky, exhilarating book about Catherine the Great's lover, general and right-hand man, Prince Grigory Potemkin, could not be better timed.' Stella Tillyard, Mail on Sunday
'This irresistible biography is history from above. To write this stupendous, engaging tour de force, the first biography of Potemkin in any language since 1891, Montefiore has devoted many hours in the archives of Moscow and Petersburg and covered thousands of miles of the former Russian empire ...'
Philip Mansel, Spectator
This is a superb biography and it is hard to see how it can be superseded. To make archives come alive, one needs psychological acumen and lucid page-turning prose. Montefiore succeeds in all these departments.' Frank McLynn, Financial Times
This splendid biography, as sprawling, magnificent and exotic as its subject, provides for the first time in English a fully researched, accurate and immensely readable history of this extraordinary man.' Nikolai Tolstoy, Literary Review
.. this gripping and richly researched biography ...'
Peter Nasmyth, TLS
'Sebag Montefiore is effortlessly readable and compelling ... this is history as it should be written.' Brian Morton, Sunday Herald
'As a scholar of Imperial Russia, I can say Mr Montefiore offers us a masterful and fair treatment of Potemkin. This is a first-rate biography.' Dr Douglas Smith, Amazon
This book ... written with great verve ... is based on a wealth of sources ... Montefiore's narrative breathes new life into them. Montefiore makes the reader appreciate the genius and forgive the absurdity.' Professor Lindsey Hughes, Rossica Magazine 'This is a wonderful book. Prince of Princes: The Life of Potemkin is as magnificent as its subject. For two centuries this roaring giant of a man has been either ignored or misinterpreted. Now Simon Sebag Montefiore has written a book that captures the iridescent spirit of Russia's greatest adventurer.'
Amanda Foreman, author of Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
Simon Sebag Montefiore, who was born in 1965, read history at Gonville &c Caius College, Cambridge. He writes for the Sunday Times, the New York Times, and the Spectator, particularly about Russia, and spent much of the Nineties travelling throughout the ex-Soviet empire, especially in the Ukraine, the Caucasus and Central Asia. The author of two novels he lives in London with his wife, the novelist Santa Montefiore, and their daughter. He is currently researching his next book - Stalin's Inner Circle - in the Moscow Archives.
Also by Simon Sebag Montefiore
King's Parade My Affair with Stalin
PRINCE OF PRINCES
The Life of Potemkin
Simon Sebag Montefiore
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