Description

pp. 398, “Ivan the Terrible, one of Russia’s most controversial tsars, has been much studied, but Bobrick sets out to incorporate recent scholarship into a biography for the layperson. Although the focus is on Ivan’s personal and political life, the Muscovite world and international scene are described. Ivan’s cruelty, mental instability, and destructive traits have been well documented, but Bobrick is rather restrained in presenting the horrors of Ivan’s reign. He seeks to make the tsar’s actions and policies comprehensible, and he usually succeeds. His attention to Ivan’s relationships with contemporary monarchs and their own struggles provides a useful perspective.”