"Ian Grey's Peter the Great reads like a novel . . ." - Louis Fischer. The first modern Russian was Peter the Great. In this enthralling biography of that remarkable ruler, award-winning historian Ian Grey paints an illuminating portrait - clear, objective, and without malice or sentimentality. Here we have, life-size, not only the great czar, but the man who fell in love with a peasant girl and made her his empress; the father who was betrayed by his son; the giant who carried all his lif...

The history of Russia is an epic of unending struggle. Here, from award-winning historian Ian Grey, is its dramatic story - from the establishment of the first ruling dynasty by a Viking prince to the invasions of Attila the Hun and Genghis Khan to the rise of the tsars, whose domination of their country stretched nearly four centuries until the violent overthrow of Nicholas II in 1918.

Catherine II of Russia was the most remarkable monarch of the eighteenth century. New York Times bestselling historian Ian Grey paints an illuminating portrait of an enigmatic woman of compelling charm and elegance. She had a prodigious appetite for work, great curiosity, and boundless ambition and vanity, and she was notorious for the number of her lovers. Her prodigal expenditures and patronage of the arts made her reign an era of splendor while her foreign policy and conquests carried R...

The Romanov dynasty has dazzled, intrigued, and confused the world for more than three centuries. These extraordinary monarchs wielded absolute power over the vast, violent lands of Russia. Savagery and kindness, asceticism and opulence, piousness and cruelty existed side by side in the royal courts. New York Times bestselling historian Ian Grey threads his way through these turbulent centuries, his focus on the private lives of the tsars themselves, the rulers whose personal histories are...

Joseph Stalin was one of the most frightening figures of the twentieth century. His name brings to mind brutal terrorism and ruthless oppression. Yet, as New York Times bestselling author Ian Grey shows, at the core of the Man of Steel was a humble, puritanical Georgian peasant. What set him above others was his intelligence, discipline, perception, indomitable will, and above all, a messianic determination to lead Russia to a grand destiny. Grey's comprehensive biography portrays Stalin a...

No tsar of Russia has been more widely known by name than Ivan the Terrible. He has exercised a sinister fascination but remained a nebulous figure, seen through a haze of blood and savagery. In truth, Ivan was extraordinarily complex, extreme in conduct and in speech. His personality was vivid and powerful. He inspired legends and passionate conflicts. But from earliest childhood, he suffered terrors, calamities, and personal tragedies that would have unhinged most people. Fear, betrayals...

Here, from New York Times bestselling historian Ian Grey, is the true portrait of Russia's tragic tsar, Boris Godunov. Depicted by most chroniclers as ruthless and ill-fated, he supposedly resorted to deceit, violence, and crime in his lust for power. Grey methodically and credibly refutes these historical accounts, which were written expressly to discredit Godunov. He unveils a new picture of the tsar as a man of high intelligence and ability, concerned for the welfare of his people and t...

A modern day gay Lolita, The Pelican Fables is a poetic and provocatively written coming-of-age story that confronts the burgeoning sexuality of a young man in his last year of prep school.Adam Proffit is torn apart by his longstanding, highly concealed crush on his roommate of two years, Kellum Thurman, and the newly arrived faculty member, Carter Moran, whom Adam believes may share his attraction. But within the conservatively charged atmosphere of the Melbourne...

The information security arena is often vague and confusing for internet users, both young and old. New traps are being devised daily, and falling into them can take legal, ethical, financial, physical, and mental tolls on individuals. With increasing cases of fake news, identity theft, piracy, spying, and scams surfacing, this book explains the risks of the internet and how they can be mitigated from a personal and professional perspective.Surviving the Wild Wild Web: A User’s...

During the course of most of Russia's turbulent history, czars ruled. The story of these men and women - as diverse as the lands they governed - is, in many ways, the story of Russia itself. From the birth of the Kievan state in the second half of the ninth century to the murder of Czar Nicholas II and his family in 1918, historians James P. Duffy and Vincent L. Ricci trace the long and twisted line of imperial rule in Russia, offering many insights into the uses and abuses of absolute pow...

Alexander the Great has fascinated people for centuries - and still does. Here, from award-winning historian and journalist Charles Mercer, is the story of the military genius who became a king at twenty told with all the color and drama characteristic of Alexander's time.

The Elizabethan World was a world remade. At the dawn of the sixteenth century, Europe was emerging from an age of ignorance and uncertainty. New lands were being discovered and old ones revitalized. People abandoned the ideals of medieval times to make startling advances in technology, science, and art. Here, award-winning historian Lacey Baldwin Smith vividly brings to life the story of Queen Elizabeth - perhaps the most influential sovereign in England's history - and the age she create...