This lengthy biography of Russia's greatest female ruler is by no
\t\t means as salacious as the subtitle suggests, but this sympathetic portrayal
\t\t certainly focuses on Catherine's private life. British scholar Rounding
\t\t (Les Grandes Horizontales) relies on
\t\t memoirs, private letters and previous monographs as she details how, after
\t\t dissolution of the unhappy marriage that brought Catherine (1729–1798) to
\t\t Russia from Germany, the empress juggled her relationships with men as she
\t\t attempted to thrust Russia into the modern era and make it a European power.
\t\t Indeed, Rounding offers an intriguing (and partially convincing) thesis that
\t\t Catherine was most effective as a ruler when she was satisfied in her private
\t\t life. That life was never dull: Catherine's final lover was 40 years her
\t\t junior, helping to give rise to wild but untrue rumors about her sexual
\t\t appetite. Rounding's prose matches the excitement of its subject, with vivid
\t\t portrayals of the late 18th-century Russian court and the machinations of
\t\t Catherine and those around her. Readers looking for more scholarly and
\t\t analytical treatments of Catherine's policies and Russia during this time might
\t\t want to look at biographies by Isabel de Madariaga and John T. Alexander, but
\t\t Rounding's work will appeal to Catherine-philes and those interested in women's
\t\t history. 16 pages of color photos. (Feb.)
