Peter the Great by Robert Massie

This is one my favorite history books, if only because it was the first historical biography that I ever read (excepting business biographies).  I first read the book in 2000, and it propelled my love of reading and basically began my love of history.

Peter was an amazing ruler, who took the reigns of a primitive peoples as a young boy, and died the emperor of a world power.  He worked ruthlessly to modernize the state, instituting breathtaking reforms to propel Russia into the modern era.  He traveled extensively through western Europe - a first for a Russian ruler - and made a career of bringing what he experienced there back home to his people.

Without Peter, Russia would never have become a world power.  If it continued on its course prior to Peter's birth, it would likely have evolved on a similar path of neighboring Lithuania, Estonia, Poland or Ukraine.

Without Peter, Russia would never have become Russia.

In re-reading the book, it was interesting to note that I remembered intimate details about the first half of his story, dominated by the "grand tour" of Europe and Russia's decades long war with Sweden and its King Charles XII.  Interestingly, there were vast sections of the back half of the book of which I have no recollection whatsoever.

Peter was an amazing leader.  Not without faults, but a leading example of how one man's work can change the course of world history.