To her critics, Catherine the Great (1729-96), Empress of Russia, was an imperialist who eradicated Polish sovereignty and waged financially draining wars, an absolutist ruler who brought back the defunct secret police, an insatiable sexual adventuress and a possible accomplice in the murder of her husband Peter III. Historian and biographer Erickson ( Blood Mary ), in this sympathetic, vibrant portrait, presents a shrewd, headstrong, cultivated woman, a political reformer and supporter of education and the arts, who codified laws, built schools and asserted her independece in a land where women had low status. Born Sophie Augusta Fredericka, princess of a tiny German state, Catherine (the baptismal name she took upon joining the Russian Orthodox Church) rightly feared her tyrannical, drunken husband who wanted to dethrone her and replace her with his mistress. Catherine's menage a trois with Gregory Potemkin, her chief deputy, and her young Polish secretary, Peter Zavadovsky, elicited an avalanche of censure and gossip. Drawing on Catherine's memoirs and letters, Erickson has fashioned an engrossing, astonishingly vivid, if not always convincing portrait. (June)

Sophie Augusta Fredericka, an obscure German princess from Anhalt-Zerbst, married the heir to the Russian Empire and ended up ruling by herself for 34 years. Before she seized power, she survived the treacherous Russian court by her wits, diligently using her time to study the Russian language and the works of Voltaire, Montesquieu, Tacitus, and Diderot. Erickson (To the Scaffold: The Life of Marie Antoinette, LJ 3/1/91) has painted a fascinating picture of an extraordinary woman. Intellectually, Catherine wanted to be an enlightened, Western-style ruler; her subjects turned her into a benevolent despot. She drafted an impressive code of laws, reformed and reorganized the government of her vast empire, and generally improved the economic conditions of her people. She took an important, often belligerent role in foreign relations and was notorious for her liaisons with various men of her court. This sympathetic but balanced and detailed account is based in part on several autobiographies that the empress herself wrote. Recommended for most collections.-Katharine Galloway Garstka, Intergraph Corp., Huntsville, Ala.

YA-When the German Princess Sophia journeyed to the Russian court of Empress Elizabeth, the shy young woman could not have believed that she would transform herself into the powerful Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia. Clever, witty, and deeply devoted to her adopted country, Catherine would work to turn Russia toward the West by focusing on European life, customs, culture, and the arts. After being married to the weak, demented Grand Duke Peter, she suffered from constant abuse and intrigue at his hands, but she never let him destroy her courageous spirit and determination. While many biographers of this fascinating ruler have focused on Catherine's love life and the extravagances of the Russian court, Erickson has chosen to relate Catherine's story by emphasizing her ambition to govern wisely. The strong narrative moves along at a brisk pace without stinting on the vivid details that bring the court of 18th-century Imperial Russia into sharp focus. The author captures the intellectual and social milieu as well as the brilliant, often opulent lifestyle of Empress Catherine II. An accessible and engaging introduction to a great ruler and the country she sought to enlighten.-Mary T. Gerrity, Queen Anne School Library, Upper Marlboro, MD

She decreed that her nobles desist from calling her the Great Most Wise Mother of the Fatherland. Catherine II, otherwise known as Catherine the Great, Empress of Russia, seems almost modern in her independence, her voracious reading, her humanity, her desire to codify the laws of the realm and her apparent sexual freedoms. Davina Porter’s reading enhances this biography, which mimics a romantic, historical novel. Porter’s narration is articulate and benefits from her mellifluous voice. While the first person is fairly rare in history books, she does a good job with it and with gender differentiation. The author’s depiction of eighteenth-century Russian cities comes alive in Porter’s narration. J.D.N. Winner of AUDIOFILE Earphones Award ©AudioFile, Portland, Maine