Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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34 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating book that could really be the last words on the final days of the Last Imperial Family, 30 Jun 2008
I have just finished your book and I can not say how much I enjoyed it. One feels strangely saying so as it is a sad story by any means.
I have lots of books on the Romanovs and I was quite hesitant to buy another one. What can be possibly new about the whole subject?
But I have to admit that this excellent book gave me a new inside and you were able to separate the political side of things, from the human dimension. There is no romantic or religious vision of the final days. It is not written with a hidden agenda of glorifying the last Imperial Family. It clearly separates the politcial story that led to the downfall of the dynasty and the the human tragedy.
Helen Rappaport did not write the story - as it is ever so often - from the end. I appreciated very much how she showed the different personalities of the Imperial family and how they coped with the new situation. The personality of Alexandra, her illnesses, the illness of the Heir and how this effected all of the family long before the fall of the dynasty. The view that the isolation of the family during their reign found a sort of continuation during the confinement, but without the demands of the rule, and were partly at least from the Czar "welcome" is indeed very convincing. Her final comments hid a nerve with me. On top, I just like Helen Rappaport's style of writing.
All in all, I enjoyed this book immensely, it is fascianting, well written and gives the reader much stuff for further thought. I can only recommend this book!
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10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A fascinating book that could really be the last words on the final days of the Last Imperial Family, 9 Jan 2009
I have just finished your book and I can not say how much I enjoyed it. One feels strangely saying so as it is a sad story by all means.
I have lots of books on the Romanovs and I was quite hesitant to buy another one. What can be possibly new about the whole subject?
But I have to admit that this excellent book gave me a new inside and you were able to separate the political side of things, from the human dimension. There is no romantic or religious vision of the final days. It is not written with a hidden agenda of glorifying the last Imperial Family. It clearly separates the politcial story that led to the downfall of the dynasty and the the human tragedy.
Helen Rappaport did not write the story - as it is ever so often - from the end. I appreciated very much how she showed the different personalities of the Imperial family and how they coped with the new situation. The personality of Alexandra, her illnesses, the illness of the Heir and how this effected all of the family long before the fall of the dynasty. The view that the isolation of the family during their reign found a sort of continuation during the confinement, but without the demands of the rule, and were partly at least from the Czar "welcome" is indeed very convincing. Her final comments hid a nerve with me. On top, I just like Helen Rappaport's style of writing.
All in all, I enjoyed this book immensely, it is fascianting, well written and gives the reader much stuff for further thought. I can only recommend this book!
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fresh perspective, at last, 22 Jun 2008
I took a risk with this book -- rather than wait months for the American edition, I pre-ordered it sight unseen and coughed up an extra 30% in shipping to the USA.
Short version: thumbs up. Had it read in an afternoon.
Long version: Rappaport's even-handed perspective and tight focus make Ekaterinburg a worthwhile read, even for those like me with linear feet of shelf space already devoted to dozens of Romanov titles. Rappaport's approach neither sanctifies nor demonizes the imperial family, and that in itself is refreshing. Drawing on seldom-accessed Russian sources, she gives a vivid sense of the tense political climate in Ekaterinburg, as well as the stifling mood in the Ipatiev house during the Romanovs' captivity that's lacking in other accounts. A significant amount of discussion concerns the politics behind the execution, but as I have not generally paid much attention to the Lenin vs. Ural Soviet debate, I can't judge whether the information on that topic is new.
To be perfectly frank, this volume is not a smorgasboard of new facts and evidence; it's too late in the game to realistically expect that from any author. Yet the tight chronological focus filled in some cracks that other accounts tend to gloss over, and I found a satisfying number of new tidbits regarding the Romanovs themselves -- the name of Aleksei's cat, for example, and further insight into the empress's physical/mental condition -- to feast upon.
For my money, the combination of new domestic tidbits and the author's assessment of the Romanovs' personalities and family dynamic more than made up for the cost of international postage. Those more interested in the political side of the Romanovs' exile and execution should find plenty to ponder as well. In essence, I'm glad I didn't wait.
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