Peter the First by Aleksey Tolstoy

Great novel! I enjoyed every single page of it. It`s so sad that Tolstoy died before finishing it. Anyway it`s very good source of information of 17th -18th Century Russia and its Tsar.

People read about Hitler and Stalin, but they are just egoistic sick men compared with Peter the First. Some politicians could learn a lot from him - how to boost countries` economy and how to make an empire out of sleepy villages:

The boyars and landed nobles, the clergy and the streltsi feared changes which meant new undertakings and new people; they hated the rapidity and harshness of the innovations. "It's no longer a decent world, it's a tavern; they smash everything, they disturb every- one. Low-born little merchants snatch at power. They don't live; they just hurry. The Tsar has delivered the country into the hands of corrupt lechers who have lost the fear of God. We are heading for the abyss."
But those others -- the low-born, efficient men who wanted change, who stretched out their hands, entranced, towards Europe, to grasp even a grain of the golden dust that shrouded the lands of the Occident -- those said that
they had not been mistaken in the young Tsar: he had proved himself just the man they had expected. The disaster and humiliation of Azov had, at one stroke, made
a man of the reveller of the Foreign Quarter; failure had curbed him with a violent bridle. Even his relatives did not recognise him; he was a changed man: fierce, obstinate and businesslike [chapter 7, book 1].

Here what`s said about Tolstoy and his last novel:

Peter the First (1929-45, book 1-2) was a historical novel, which made a strong comeback in the 1930s. It followed the myth of Peter the Great as a progressive ruler who made Russia strong, while also having a heart for the people. Tolstoi did not try to interpret history in a new way but used traditional material. Among his sources were works by the novelist Dmitry Merezhkovasky (1865-1941) and Daniil Mordovtsev, and the historians Vasily Klyuchevsky and Vladimir Solovyov (1853-1900). Peter the First was hailed as the best Soviet historical novel ever written - also in West perhaps due to its apolitical views. However, Tolstoi never managed to finish the third part of the book before his death.

It`s hard to tell where is historical facts and where starts author`s imaginery, so if You want to know more about great Tsar, I advice You to read some other books about him as well:

Massie, Robert K. Peter the Great: His Life and World. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1980 (hardcover, ISBN 0-394-50032-6); New York: Ballantine Books, 1981 (paperback, ISBN 0-345-29806-3); 1986 (paperback, ISBN 0-345-33619-4); New York: Wings Books, 1991 (hardcover, ISBN 0-517-06483-9); London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001 (paperback, ISBN 1-84212-116-2). Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of Peter I.

Hughes, Lindsey. Russia in the Age of Peter the Great. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 1998 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-07539-1; paperback, ISBN 0-300-08266-5)

Hughes, Lindsey. Peter the Great: A Biography. New Haven, CT; London: Yale University Press, 2002 (hardcover, ISBN 0-300-09426-4); 2004 (paperback, ISBN 0-300-10300-X).

Peter the Great and the West: New Perspectives (Studies in Russian and Eastern European History), edited by Lindsey Hughes. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2001 (hardcover, ISBN 0-333-92009-0).

Troyat, Henri. Peter the Great. New York: E.P. Dutton, 1987 (hardcover, ISBN 0-525-24547-2).

There are more books in Russian.

This was my third book from TBR challenge list.