- Paperback: 480 pages
- Publisher: Pimlico; New Ed edition (5 Jan 1995)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0712662677
- ISBN-13: 978-0712662673
- Product Dimensions: 15.3 x 3.6 x 23.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (16 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 327,415 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
ANASTASIA is the first, definitive, full-length biography of 'Anna Anderson' who has claimed since 1920 to be Grand Duchess Anastasia of Russia, the youngest daughter of the Tsar. It is the story of a mystery, a controversy, a mammouth court-case and a twentieth-century legend which until now has never been examined with full access to the wealth of private papers, letters, interviews and original sources drawn on by Peter Kurth.
Product Description
On 17 February 1920 a young woman was rescued from a Berlin canal and taken to a local asylum. Her body bore the scars of bullet and bayonet wounds. For a long time she refused to give her name, and was known as Fraulein Unbekannt (Miss Unknown). When she did declare herself - as the Grand Duchess Anastasia, youngest daughter of the murdered Romanovs - she became the centre of a storm of controversy that still continues after her death in 1983. Peter Kurth's brilliant and meticulously researched account shows that the evidence that Anna Anderson was Anastasia is in the end overwhelming. Nevertheless the extraordinary secrecy which still shrouds some of the key evidence suggests that, as her uncle the Grand Duke of Hesse wrote, an investigation of her identity could be 'dangerous'.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
When I was young, I remember hearing about Anna Anderson. And thinking "what if she is? What if she is?" It was like a fairy tale - a lost kingdom, an unrecognized princess (okay, grand duchess). This romanticized view was further enhanced by the Ingrid Bergman movie. Is she? Is she? She is...?
My interest in this book went beyond the "is she?" question. More profound for me were basic questions of identity.
How can one possibly prove that one is who one is? Think about it. What possible arguments could you make? How could you convince people that you were who you said you were? I realized that one could become lost, cast adrift without the anchor of identity in the world.
Kurth made a very convincing "she is" argument. And it was hauntingly sad to think that maybe, just maybe Anna Anderson had memories of being a cosseted little girl in the palaces of St. Petersburg and because she couldn't proved that she was who she was, she ended up living a large part of her life in squalor - her very self denied.
Science has erased some of these questions and Peter Kurth's book is now dated due to the science of DNA and the good grace of Prince Phillip. But prior to DNA...
[prior to DNA results, I would have rated slightly higher - but he was wrong, after all]
10 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Not so long ago, the burnt remains of the two missing Romanov children were found in Koptyaki wood. For most people, this solemn discovery signalled a final end to almost a century of debate over the survival of any of the Romanovs, particularly Anastasia. For others still, this conclusion had been reached as far back as 1994 when DNA testing between tissue left by Anna Anderson (the famous Anastasia claimant) and the remains of the other Romanovs found in 1991, established no link, and later confirmed her identity as the Polish factory worker Franziska Schanzkowska, whom her opponents had long insisted was her real identity.
With such conclusions having now been drawn, it's difficult to know how to approach 'Anastasia', Peter Kurth's definitive biography from 1983 which strongly supported Anderson's claim. With the scientific evidence being what it is, there are many who treat Kurth's study with derision, accusing the author of bias and expostulating loudly over his personal attachment to the case. But this judgement is ignorant and completely unfair. Studies of the Romanovs are more often than not just boring repetitions of the same old conclusions made by conservative authors long ago. Kurth's work stood out for its originality, it's supreme research and more than anything the independent and intelligent way the author analysed the case.
The book begins with a fleeting and hauntingly vague description of the last evening of the Romanovs. In a hail of bullets, they quickly exit the story and enter legend. From here the sorrowing lamentations of their relatives are described, lamentations that are about to be shaken to the core by the attempted suicide of a young woman in the Landwehr canal in Berlin. No one knows her name and for months she obstinately refuses to talk. Eventually, she confesses to being a daughter of the Tsar and later, that her name is Anastasia.
Most commendable is the precision with which Kurth argues her case. Although doubtlessly favourable to Anna Anderson, Kurth provides strong arguments for this and describes the major and most important episodes of her life in minute detail, all backed by source notes. With this in mind, Kurth's book is less biased than other well-known scholars who airily state their conclusions without defending them or providing sufficient source material.
Reading 'Anastasia' will leave you feeling confused and more than a little disturbed. On one hand there are the burnt remains from Siberia, which DNA testing have confirmed to be the missing Romanovs, and then there is this woman - the very incarnation of the late Grand duchess on so many different levels - hounded by the most virulent opposition in the world, many of them leading members of the establishment. Somewhere, there is a jarring clash of truths, and the story of her life will rest uneasy on my mind for some time to come.
With such conclusions having now been drawn, it's difficult to know how to approach 'Anastasia', Peter Kurth's definitive biography from 1983 which strongly supported Anderson's claim. With the scientific evidence being what it is, there are many who treat Kurth's study with derision, accusing the author of bias and expostulating loudly over his personal attachment to the case. But this judgement is ignorant and completely unfair. Studies of the Romanovs are more often than not just boring repetitions of the same old conclusions made by conservative authors long ago. Kurth's work stood out for its originality, it's supreme research and more than anything the independent and intelligent way the author analysed the case.
The book begins with a fleeting and hauntingly vague description of the last evening of the Romanovs. In a hail of bullets, they quickly exit the story and enter legend. From here the sorrowing lamentations of their relatives are described, lamentations that are about to be shaken to the core by the attempted suicide of a young woman in the Landwehr canal in Berlin. No one knows her name and for months she obstinately refuses to talk. Eventually, she confesses to being a daughter of the Tsar and later, that her name is Anastasia.
Most commendable is the precision with which Kurth argues her case. Although doubtlessly favourable to Anna Anderson, Kurth provides strong arguments for this and describes the major and most important episodes of her life in minute detail, all backed by source notes. With this in mind, Kurth's book is less biased than other well-known scholars who airily state their conclusions without defending them or providing sufficient source material.
Reading 'Anastasia' will leave you feeling confused and more than a little disturbed. On one hand there are the burnt remains from Siberia, which DNA testing have confirmed to be the missing Romanovs, and then there is this woman - the very incarnation of the late Grand duchess on so many different levels - hounded by the most virulent opposition in the world, many of them leading members of the establishment. Somewhere, there is a jarring clash of truths, and the story of her life will rest uneasy on my mind for some time to come.
7 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
The only serious biography of Anna Anderson, this is a superb book. Peter Kurth became interested in the Romanovs at a young age, has interviewed many of the main players in the story and got to know Anna Anderson herself. He makes no bones about the fact that he believed her but this thoroughly researched book gives both sides of the argument, presents many sources and further reading for those who wish to know more.
If you only buy one book about Anastasia, make sure it is this one.
If you only buy one book about Anastasia, make sure it is this one.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Even the author is embarrassed. . .
I've had this book (along with a worryingly large number of others on the same subject) since it first appeared, and the only reason I'm posting a review of it now is my bemusement... Read more
Published 5 months ago by Garth Winter
Meet Her Imperial Highness
ANASTASIA: THE RIDDLE OF ANNA ANDERSON, by Peter Kurth (1983). For the sake of pure honesty, I am revising this review yet again - and this will be my 5th revision because the UK... Read more
Published 15 months ago by E. Hernandez
fascinating - very well written and researched
This is as absolutely superb book full of fascinating facts and details about Anastasia's life and her quest to prove who she was. Read more
Published on 21 Nov 2009 by Chocolate Lover
Far From Settled Yet
This book will still be standing strong one hundred years from now as one of the only reliable
Resources about the life and identity of Anna Anderson/Grand Duchess... Read more
Resources about the life and identity of Anna Anderson/Grand Duchess... Read more
Published on 31 July 2009 by Belinda
A great book, but a little too personal
I read this book years ago, it is a fascinating detailed book, and after reading its emotional testimony, I too was convinced it was she, However, I was wrong, and so was the... Read more
Published on 3 Aug 1999
A Grand Book for a Grand Duchess!
It was a great pleasure for me to read Peter Kurth's book. I have read most of the books written about the Anna Anderson/Anastasia affair and I find Mr. Read more
Published on 28 July 1999
Intriguing
I have read lots of books about Anna Anderson and her claim to be a Romanov and believed that she indeed was The Anastasia. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 1999
Anna Anderson IS Anastasia.
The tragedy of the life of Anastasia is multifaceted: She knew the love her family, appreciating the richness of the world around her until the tragic day in 1918 when all was... Read more
Published on 16 Jan 1999
A very good book about a very sad and intriguing mystery
I have always been keenly interested in Anastasia/Anna Anderson and this well written book was quite an education! Read more
Published on 5 Dec 1998
A very good book about a very sad and intriguing mystery
I have always been keenly interested in Anastasia/Anna Anderson and this well written book was quite an education! Read more
Published on 5 Dec 1998
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