Download or read book Great Catherine written by Carolly Erickson and published by . This book was released on 1994 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Catherine II of Russia occupies a unique position in the European imagination. She belonged to a dying era, the middle and late years of the 18th century, when the European monarchies were lumbering to catastrophe. She ruled a country perceived by Western Europeans to be as barbaric as it was exotic, Asiatic in culture yet not quite outside the pale of Christendom. Within her lifetime the achievements of her reign, which were considerable, were completely overshadowed by the reputation she attained for lechery, sexual voracity and murder.