Those who served her throne, or her bed, were well rewarded while the serfs were condemned to ever-worsening conditions. Men were instruments of pleasure. The weak had to perish. The future belonged to men - and sometimes a man could have the outward appearance of a woman. She was proof of that. This literary tour de force paints an enthralling picture of Catherine, her seductions, her coaxings and her phenomenal devotion to politics and work, but it also brings the Russian court - with all its intrigues - brilliantly to life.

    In little more than a decade the Romanov dynasty was toppled, and its time-honored institutions repudiated. How did it happen? How could Nicholas and Alexandra, the nobility, middle class anarchists—even Lenin himself—not foresee the catastrophic changes that were shaking the empire? Why could nothing be done? And why were the efforts so ineffectual? Black Night, White Snow captures the rich drama of this whole period. With the artistry of a Balzac, Harrison Salisbury exposes the strata of Russian society, with its decedents, prophetic poets, religious fanatics, and newly liberated serfs. From archival sources within the Soviet Union, interviews, and his personal photography collection, he recreates the story as it happened. Hard data on Russia's economy, a first-hand knowledge of the county, and a historian's gift of compression are combined in a fast-paced narrative that reads with the ease of a good novel and the urgency of a newspaper headline.

    In the Russian Styleby Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis184 pagesPublished: 1976Genre: CatalogPublisher: VikingLanguages: EnglishISBN Hardcover: 0670396966ISBN Softcover: No softcover edition availablePrint Status: out of print

    

    Contents1 Springtime In Paris2 Melinda's Story3 The Boy Burgess4 Wartime for Burgess5 Peacetime for Burgess6 A Fling to be Flung7 Maclean &​ Son8 Melinda and the Fall of France9 Homer Comes to Washington10 Crisis In Cairo11 Maclean Takes the Cure12 A Change In the Weather 13 Maclean's Countdown 14 And So Farewell 15 Losing the Scent 16 The First Cover-Up 17 Holiday for Melinda 18 Reunion for Melinda 19 Petrov Blows the Gaff 20 The Second Cover-Up 21 Burgess and Maclean Come Alive22 Third Man Overexposed 23 The Last Days of Guy Burgess 24 In Moscow, More Equal Than Some 25 Facing Both Ways Appendix: Report Concerning the Disappearance of Two Former Foreign Office Officials, Sources