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I couldn't have been more wrong. I absolutely love this book. The writing is superb, and transports the reader to this tumultuous time and space. I picked this book up at a flea market years ago, and it's been sitting on a shelf unread because I thought it might be too academic or boring. This is honestly one of the best books I have read in years. History may not have treated Nicholas and Alexandra very kindly, but you can't help but empathize with their plight after reading Massie's incredible portrait of their lives.
I have just ordered The Romanovs - the Final Chapter by the same author, as I'm obsessed and want to know more about the last royal family of Russia. Robert Massie presents Nicholas and Alexandra in the most human terms, more loving parents and partners than tsar and tsarina. My copy is from the late 1960s, and this book is still in print, if that speaks to the quality of the biography. I am so touched at the intimacy of their family relationshiops, and they seem like lovely people, but maybe a little dense. Perhaps they were just not qualified or prepared to rule over the largest empire in the world. I also have Peter the Great, for which Massie was given the Pulitzer prize, on my To Read list.
It has earned a place in my permanent collection.
I read historical biography for fun in my spare time and this is definitely one of the best of the genre I have ever read. Absorbingly written, this love story is one I will not soon forget. Massey humanizes Nicholas, Alexandra, their children and those that were close to them and makes them come alive. I will be reading the follow up book by the same author as soon as I find the time.I've given my copy of this book to my mother to read (another historical biography buff) and she loves it.
They were not tossed down a mine shaft. Massie in the artful style of a great novelist.The principal theme is that of the marriage and family life of Tsar Nicholas [Romanov] II and his wife, the German Princess Alexandra, their privileged fairy tale existence with their five children, and their tragic and sudden fall, (and subsequent murders perpetrated by the Bolsheviks).A parallel story craftily unfolds regarding Grigory Rasputin, the so-called "Mad Monk," and how, though a comedy of tragic errors, Rasputin's remarkable and almost mystical influence over the Tsarina Alexandra and her weak husband gave rise to Lenin's successful conversion of the Russian government to that of Bolshevism (Communism).A third tale is more medical and genetic than it is historic, that of hemophilia. they were buried in fairly shallow graves.Due chiefly to the fall of the Berlin Wall and the subsequent fall of the Soviet dictatorship, modern investigation teams have now been able to actually recover the remains of most of the Romanovs from their long-secret graves. The Tsarevich (Nicholas II's heir and only son, Alexis) was a hemophiliac, a disease which the child inherited through his great-grandmother, Queen Victoria of England. Throughout the text here, that historically factual concept is plainly conveyed to the reader.This book was written in 1967 and for that reason, Massie got decoyed by Nicholas Sokolov's somewhat flawed investigation [1919] of the mass murder of the Romanovs. All these chronicles are woven into one excellent timeline and account of the Russian Monarchy's decline, culminating in tragedy for nearly all involved.If there is a void in this tale, it's perhaps lacking a Dostoyevsky-ish paradigm on the plight of the Russian people during this turbulent period, a facet which was equally key to the events which transpired. To garner the entirety of what actually transpired during the Russian Revolution(s) [1905 and 1917] in detail, it would perhaps be better to read a text on that specific facet of history: A People's Tragedy: The Russian Revolution: 1891-1924.
While this actuality is mentioned as a matter of fact, I didn't feel that this important aspect of the legacy was driven home to the reader. Unfortunately for the Tsar, she also fell under Rasputin's phenomenal influence in other realms of opinion, mainly that of how Russia could best be governed during a raging European war. Still, supplementary reading of the fiction of Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Lyeskov, and other notable Russian masters of period literature can fill in the gaps which Massie apparently felt unable to cover. Thankfully, Massie allows the individual reader to make this determination.In summary, this is an outstanding book, nicely illustrated with several pages of relevant black-and-white photographs, and I know of no superior choice on the topic which covers all the aspects which this one does -- I highly recommend it.
Here we have an aggregation of factual stories which effectively summarizes multiple historical events, chiefly of late-period Tsarist Russia, delivered by Robert K. Figes is a renowned and widely-published authority on Russian history.The bigger picture of Massie's written legacy is that of the general madness which ultimately consumed most Monarchies from within -- the inevitable end seems nearly always to culminate with the extravagance and opulence on the parts of the royals and the nobility, and their appurtenant obliviousness and hubristic attitude toward the inevitable extreme poverty of the masses. In other words, the royals begin dwelling on their personal belief that they are indeed demi-gods. Sokolov's difficult inquiry was generally a good one; however, we now know that his conclusions concerning the final disposition of the corpses of Nicholas, Alexandra, and their children was incorrect. A superb (if little known) non-fiction work which conveys the plight of the Russian people prior to and during this bleak era was written by Prince Peter Kropotkin in biographical form: Memoirs of a Revolutionist (Collected Works of Peter Kropotkin).The author, Robert K. The Tsarevitch's mortal relics also remain missing.Some would say that the Romanovs got precisely what they deserved while others would assert that their demise was a shameful national tragedy. It was Rasputin who seemed to keep this child alive during times of medical crisis and thus cemented the Tsarina's unswayable belief in his apparently godly powers of healing. The primary issue of contention which remains (between two separate teams of investigators) is whether it is Marie or Anastasia who continues to be unrecovered.
Granted, such explorations may well have turned this fine history book into a burdensome tome since there is so much to say on the topic of Russian peasant misery. Massie, adopts the "linear" view of the sudden fall of the Romanov dynasty. This question will likely be resolved to the satisfaction of most at some later date. And if you would like to see this fine work brilliantly conveyed through the media of film, then be sure to see the 1974 BBC mini-series production of: Fall of Eagles.
As you're reading, you can almost hear yourself say to the Romanovs, "Don't do that. Although this is not an historical novel, it almost reads like one. It will lead to your destruction." But of course you can't and the rest is history. It is an in-depth (character analysis). of the Romanovs, taking the reader step by step to the events that led to the downfall of the Romanovs. A well written book, logically flowing to tell you the who's, what's and why's of the Romanovs. Anyone who is a Russian hisotry fan will love this book.
This is an all-encompassing authoritative biography of the last ruling Romanovs, and Massie has compiled a thorough and well-researched insight into the lives of Nicholas and Alexandra. Alexandra seems frantic and ill at ease (and often just ill) in her constant concern over the life of her son. This made their demise all the more heartbreaking. Massie is very sympathetic in his presentation of the royal family and addresses pertinent questions about the fall of the monarchy. Overall, this is a captivating book and the saga is all the more intriguing because it's history. If Alexis, the heir to the throne, had not had hemophilia, would the influence of Rasputin not have been necessary. Even forty years after its original publication and long after the fall of the Soviet Union, it is a relevant part of Russian history. And I love that I felt I got to know each of the children, Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia, and Alexis more individually and personally.
And if Rasputin were never in the picture, would the monarchy have suffered such a tarnished reputation.The book painted a very vivid picture of the Royal Family based on hundreds of sources and letters. Nicholas is an incapable Tsar but a warm-hearted, devoted husband and father. This book also gave me a greater understanding of the political climate of the time in Russia and a better comprehension of the revolution and the roles of Lenin, Trotsky, and other important players (although I occasionally found some difficulty keeping the various Russian names straight). I will definitely be interested to read some of the more recent material that Massie presents in The Romanovs: The Last Chapter.
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