From: History Today | Date: June 1, 1997| Author: Kirby, David | COPYRIGHT 1997 History Today Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan.  All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group.Copyright information

Academic International Press xvi + 276 pp. $35. ISBN: 0-87569-140-4

After years of exposure to pictures of stiff and heavy middle-aged males embracing visiting heads of state, one might be forgiven for thinking that Russia has always been ruled by men. For much of the eighteenth century, however, women held the reins of power and, moreover, they often actively plotted to achieve that position. The German princess who was to become the empress Catherine II connived at the ...