Ivan the Terrible

Rating:
Summary: A biographical tour de force
Review: Robert Payne's "Ivan The Terrible" is sensational. The book, in addition to being a great historical research project, is also a lively read. Though it nears 500 pages, this book manages to navigate Ivan the Terrible's life in detail, without continual sidetracking or nitpicking. The pace of the book moves well and is free of dead sections that seem to be aimed at specialists instead of the lay reader.

The danger in writing a biography on someone like Ivan the Terrible is to psychoanalyze and read too much into the turbulent times and events. While Payne offers some explanations for the erratic and awful behavior of the Grand Prince of Muscovy, he certainly doesn't try to explain away, apologize or revise the life of Ivan.

There is also a tendency in biography to get mired down in political intrigues and military minutae of the times. While there is certainly plenty of intrigue and military history, the book never wanders far from the subject matter which is Ivan, a man possessed by history, demons and angels.

This book may not satisfy the specialist, who might yearn for more detail and more footnotes, but it is certainly a good, solid starting point for someone wanting to know more about Ivan the Terrible.

Payne has done a great service for Russian history buffs.

Rating:
Summary: A biographical tour de force
Review: Robert Payne's "Ivan The Terrible" is sensational. The book, in addition to being a great historical research project, is also a lively read. Though it nears 500 pages, this book manages to navigate Ivan the Terrible's life in detail, without continual sidetracking or nitpicking. The pace of the book moves well and is free of dead sections that seem to be aimed at specialists instead of the lay reader.

The danger in writing a biography on someone like Ivan the Terrible is to psychoanalyze and read too much into the turbulent times and events. While Payne offers some explanations for the erratic and awful behavior of the Grand Prince of Muscovy, he certainly doesn't try to explain away, apologize or revise the life of Ivan.

There is also a tendency in biography to get mired down in political intrigues and military minutae of the times. While there is certainly plenty of intrigue and military history, the book never wanders far from the subject matter which is Ivan, a man possessed by history, demons and angels.

This book may not satisfy the specialist, who might yearn for more detail and more footnotes, but it is certainly a good, solid starting point for someone wanting to know more about Ivan the Terrible.

Payne has done a great service for Russian history buffs.