- Paperback: 613 pages
- Publisher: Ballantine Books Inc.; 1st Ballantine Ed edition (29 Feb 2000)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0345438310
- ISBN-13: 978-0345438317
- Product Dimensions: 14 x 3.6 x 21 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,733,269 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Book Description
The tragic, compelling story of the last Tsar and his family
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Product Description
The story of the love that ended an empire
In this commanding book, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of Imperial Russia to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.
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First Sentence
FROM the Baltic city of St. Petersburg, built on a river marsh in a far northern corner of the empire, the Tsar ruled Russia. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
FROM the Baltic city of St. Petersburg, built on a river marsh in a far northern corner of the empire, the Tsar ruled Russia. Read the first page
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Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a sensitive narration of the life and death of Russia's last Tsar and his tragic familly. Massie writes clearly and eloquently and succeeds in bringing his characters to life and developing a genuine empathy with them.
Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra emerge as rather sad and pathetic characters, pathologicaly out of touch with reality and hopelessly unqualified for their inherited role. Massie's fascinating thesis is that the Russian revolution may have been brought about by a haemophilia gene passed along from queen Victoria. That is probably an extremely romanticised view of history that would exhonerate Nicholas too much. A more likely truth is that the tragic end of Tsarist Holy Russia was an accident waiting to happen. Here was a flawed system built on fragile people. That fragility more than anything else is what comes across from reading these pages.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Massie's account of the last Tsar and Tsarina's private life will probably never be bettered - yet as a political account it is lacklustre. I came to this book when I was 9 and I loved it, still do, but it shouldn't be read as the definitive political study on the closing years of the Russian monarchy ( I would point you in the direction of Sir Bernard Pares' 'Fall of the Russian Monarchy' or Khrustalev and Steinberg's 'Fall of the Romanovs.') But it is a touching and highly readable book which does infinite justice to the last reigning family in Russia, to date. Despite being a tad uncritical of emigre accounts, Massie has written a true masterpiece of historical nonfiction and I would recommend it to anyone with an interest in Russian history.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Robert Massie has written an excellent historical biography, as I knew very little about the events that led up to the Tsar's death. But the book was made up of interesting historical reading without getting boring or monotonous. Through reading this it has led me onto other Russian ruler's biographies and Russian history books.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Compelling and tragic, history brought to life...
This is one of those books that I have been meaning to read for what feels like forever, and now I finally have I wish I'd read it earlier. Read more
Published 10 days ago by C. Ball
A fascinating insight
Robert K Massie's book about Nicholas and Alexandra is a very good read. The research seems to be well done, and accords with other accounts I have read. Read more
Published 3 months ago by Mrs. TK Ellis
SECOND TIME I'VE BOUGHT AND READ IT...
...the first being way back in the 1960's. It is quite rare actually to find a book which is not only so well researched and written, but SUPER engrossing - even Suspenseful... Read more
Published 11 months ago by Varalagom
An Excellent Read
This is a very easy to read book about the life of the last Zsar and his family. I visited St Petersburg recently and before I went I read Cousins Divided about the relationship... Read more
Published 22 months ago by Mary M
Imperial Twilight
Massie's book is an enchanting evocation of a lost world. He writes beautifully: 'From the Baltic city of St. Read more
Published on 30 April 2010 by Klaatu
My favourite book of all time!
Nicholas & Alexandra is quite simply my favourite book of all time. I have always been fascinated by the Romanovs but Robert K Massie takes it to another level. Read more
Published on 18 Mar 2010 by A. Antoniades
A little one-sided but still amazing
It's hard not to disagree with the reviewers who have accused this book of bias in favour of the tsar, ignoring the plight of the Russian masses. Read more
Published on 10 Feb 2010 by Allenian One
Another truly outstanding biography from Mr Massie!
I've read several books pertaining to this period of Russian history - most particularly of course concerning the Romanovs. Read more
Published on 19 Sep 2008 by The Legendary Lord Sword
Russian tragedy
This is the book that started my passion for Russian history and particularly the story of the last Tsar and his family. Read more
Published on 27 Oct 2007 by Lynette Baines
Good but terribly one side
This book is beautifully detailed and very well researched however I felt it was let down by being so unbelievably one sided. Read more
Published on 20 Mar 2007 by Bookman
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