SOURCE: Alexander, John T. “Crisis Renewed: The Volga Voyage and the Legislative Commission.” In Catherine the Great: Life and Legend, pp. 97-120. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989.

In this excerpt from his biography of Catherine the Great, generally considered the scholarly standard, Alexander provides the historical and political contexts for the production and reception of Catherine's Nakaz. For Alexander, the Nakaz reflects both Catherine's idealism and her naivete about Russian politics.

By the mid-1760s Catherine felt more securely in power than during the nervous first years of her reign. She obviously loved ruling, reveled in being the center of attention, and showed ever greater confidence in her political abilities and prospects. Some of this confidence was bluster. To Madame Geoffrin, an old Parisian friend of her mother's and patroness of a leading intellectual salon, she confided her sense of inadequacy as compared to Frederick the Great, thinking he...