Giorgio Vasari's Life From the Artists (1550) was the landmark biography focusing on secular lives. Vasari made celebrities of his topics, because the Life grew to become an early "bestseller". Massie follows the journey of the obscure German princess from a minimal noble family role to empress of Russia. 5 http://www.daongil.com/bbs/board.php?bo_table=free&wr_id=323555