Catacazy Affair and the Uneasy Path of Russian-American Relations

Lee A. Farrow is Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at Auburn University-Montgomery, USA. She is the author of Seward's Folly: A New Look at the Alaska Purchase (2016), Alexis in America: A Russian Grand Duke's Tour, 1871-1872 (2014) and Between Clan and Crown: The Struggle to Define Noble Property Rights in Imperial Russia (2005).

• List of IllustrationsIntroduction1. ‘Objectionable and Obnoxious’: Constantin Catacazy’s Early Life and Career2. ‘Fictitious Pretentions’: The Perkins Claims3. ‘The Intermeddling of the Russian Minister’: The Alabama Claims4. ‘Falsehood, Intrigue and Hostility’: Catacazy’s Breaches of Protocol5. ‘She Had a Story and a Past’: Olga Catacazy and the Washington Wives6. ‘A Thorough Mischief Maker’: The Recall of Catacazy7. ‘He … Smirked Too Much to be Dignified’: The Last Years of Constantin Catacazy8. Conclusion: The Significance of the Catacazy AffairBibliographyIndex

The Catacazy Affair is an informative, charming, and impactful piece that explores new issues and reveals new facts ... Lee Farrow’s book outlines important nuances in the twists and turns of nineteenth-century diplomacy, advances the study of relations between the two countries’ governments and peoples, and will undoubtedly attract considerable readership.