Peter the Great (1996) by William Marshall is a very direct and objective book about the life and legacy of one of the greatest Russian monarchs, Peter I Romanov. Besides the central text, the book also contains a small forward and preface, numerous documents and maps, and a glossary, which are all very effective in further explaining the issues. Marshall uses Peter's reign to examine the causes of the recent demise of the U.S.S.…
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…documents allow readers to refer to the actual historic evidence and make their own assumptions, whether or not they agree with the author. Marshall also has numerous interesting facts about Peter interspersed in the text, so as to keep the readers attention. For example, did you know that as part of his effort to force Russia to adopt Western European culture and style, Peter imposed a tax on men who refused to shave their beards?