- Hardcover: 296 pages
- Publisher: Greenwood Press (30 July 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0275977781
- ISBN-13: 978-0275977788
- Product Dimensions: 2.5 x 1.6 x 0.3 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 2,741,694 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
White Crow
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Product Description
Review
"This detailed biography of Tsar Nicholas Il's intellectual and cosmopolitan cousin is a major contribution to scholarship in Russian history. Based on extensive archival research in Moscow, Paris, and elsewhere, and utilizing many materials unavailable to researchers until recently, the study also draws on interviews conducted earlier by Professor Cockfield with high-placed figures who had first-hand familiarity with aspects of the figures and events treated....the biography sheds valuable light on social, political, and intellectual life in Russia during the period and on major events, including the uprising of 1905, the assassination of Rasputin, and the great revolution of 1917 and its sequels. Well-written, rich in detail, and carefully documented, this compelling volume offers to the general reader as well as to specialists in Russian history a fine portrait of the Grand Duke and his times." Catharine Savage Brosman author Images of War in France: Fiction, Art, Ideology "The author has used skillfully a large variety of archival and other materials in this interesting biography of an overlooked but significant member of the Romanov family. The section devoted to his experiences in the 1917 Revolution is especially significant." David MacKenzie Professor Emeritus of History University of North Carolina, Greensboro
Product Description
Based on material from Russian archives, this is the biography of Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov (1859-1919), the only intellectual in the Russian Imperial Family. This study provides insight into the last six decades of tsarist Russia through the experiences of the "oddball" member of the clan. An historian and a biologist, the Grand Duke made major contributions in both these fields. A political liberal, he fought tirelessly for reform from within the system. His reformist views made him a pariah within his own family, and contemporary recognition of his accomplishments came more from abroad than at home. Entering the military, as all Romanovs did, the Grand Duke eventually became hostile toward it and was in fact the only family member ever to formally leave military service. He received honorary doctorates from the Universities of Berlin and Moscow and even won election to the French Academy - one of only two Russians to do so. As the political situation in Russia worsened, he urged the tsar to implement reforms, and he even participated in discussions of a palace coup. Exiled to Vologda after the Communist seizure of power, he was later imprisoned by the police and shot in January 1919.
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In the fifth decade of the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire was the world's largest contiguous state ruled by one government. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
In the fifth decade of the nineteenth century, the Russian Empire was the world's largest contiguous state ruled by one government. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
The end of the cold war and the new openess of Russia has triggered a lot of interest in the Romanov Family. New sources have become available helping to understand Russia, the Imperial clan, its dynamics and the end of the Empire much better. "The White Crow" deals with the life of the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov (1859-1919), one of the many granddukes usually not that well known or simply forgotten. He was quite an outsider, the odd uncle who was - rather unusual in that family -an intectual. As one follows the grandduke' s life in its ups and downs, in his relatiosn with family and friends, it seemingly non-existent personal relationships and his interlectual persuits I had the feeling of understanding why this Empire and its Imperial Family was doomed to fail. At any important point in history during this period the Romanovs failed. The Imperial clan was living in great style, asking for deference and wielding extensive powers but they did not set all in all good examples, did not justify their privileges by great services to the nation or using their powers for the general good. The family was absorbed by petty intrigues and personal rancour not realizing what they were really facing. Personally they might have been rather nice chaps but as the political elite they were not. And the "hero" of this well written and very interesting book is no exception from the whole clan. We are - basically due to the fact that the Emperor and his immediate family were brutally murdered - facing an Imperial myth of the "good", nearly saintly Romanovs. This book shows why this is a myth and why the Romanovs were not saved by their "adoring subjects". There is a major difference between two points of viewing the Romanovs : in their social and politcial role and looking at members of the Imperial House as mere private persons. I feel that the "White crow" makes a valuable contribution to understand Imperial Russia at the change of last century because it looks at both sides. A book to be recommened:
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3 reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
The biography of a Royal Gentleman Scholar
24 Sep 2003
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is the first full length English biography of Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov of Russia. The Grand Duke was the eldest of the 4 sons and 1 daughter of Grand Duke Mikhail Nicholaevich and spent most of his youth in the Caucasus where his father was Viceroy.
In later life Nicholas was a well known and respected historian. His works on Russian history and butterflies (both of them passions) are still respected today within in Russia. These interests of Nicholas and his genuine scholarship, along with his love and respect for France and its political systems made him an atypical Romanov.
This is a reasonably detailed and well researched biography that uses primary sources mostly from Russia and France. The author does not hide the Grand Dukes acerbic and cynical nature or try to gloss over his more unattractive traits such as his inability to keep a secret or his anti-Semitism.
However, at the same time the book does not really seem to pinpoint why the Grand Duke was a "Pariah in the Family". The period of Nicholas life during the Russian revolution and the months leading to his death are particularly well documented in some detail, especially in comparison to some of his earlier years.
This book is an important work in filling out the world of the Romanovs and brings to life a Grand Duke, who in most western works, has lived his life in the shadows until now - but who in France and Russia in his day was a celebrity based on ability as much as his imperial birth.
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
A fine book, but -
21 Mar 2006
Format:Hardcover
I would agree with comments above from other reviewers. This provides a very well written and superbly documented perspective on a "new" Romanov. The histories of the tsars can tend to be a bit reptitious.
Disappointment in the Grand Duke or "White Crow": While he is different than others, he is still an Imperial Romanov with all of the accompanying trappings and weight that pulled this house down. The times may be of more far more interest than the life.
Book production shortcomings: If ever a family tree would be useful, it is for this book. And how about a few more photos on quality paper? No dustcover. For the amazingly high price, this is a poorly produced book. Is the demand that low?
A fine book for those with a deep interest in pre-revolutionary Russia. This is not a book, as well done as it is, for the newer student of Russian history.
Disappointment in the Grand Duke or "White Crow": While he is different than others, he is still an Imperial Romanov with all of the accompanying trappings and weight that pulled this house down. The times may be of more far more interest than the life.
Book production shortcomings: If ever a family tree would be useful, it is for this book. And how about a few more photos on quality paper? No dustcover. For the amazingly high price, this is a poorly produced book. Is the demand that low?
A fine book for those with a deep interest in pre-revolutionary Russia. This is not a book, as well done as it is, for the newer student of Russian history.
8 of 9 people found the following review helpful
A Detailed, Fascinating Biography
16 Dec 2003
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
I found this to be a refreshing and absolutely fascinating book about a "minor" member of the Romanov family (because he was intelligent, intellectual and hardworking). I think I have read all the Romanov biographies published in French or English, and I hated for this one to end!
I believe it does depict why Nicholas Mikhailovich was a pariah in the Romanov family, from the "White Crow" title on, although it is helpful if the reader can bring some knowledge to the book (beyond Nicholas and Alexandra), but it isn't essential.
I highly recommend this book to anyone fascinated by European literary and historical culture of the late 19th century, and to anyone whose interest in Imperial Russia goes deeper than wondering if anyone survived the massacre in Ekaterinburg -- this sheds some life on why they ended up there!
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