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Nicholas and Alexandra (Paperback)
by Robert K. Massie
| Category:
Russian history, Europe history, Russia, Biography |
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Author: Robert K. Massie
Publisher: Ballantine Books; 1st Ballantine Ed edition
Pub. in: February, 2000
ISBN: 0345438310
Pages: 640
Measurements: 8.1 x 5.5 x 1.5 inches
Origin of product: USA
Order code: BA01205
Other information: ISBN-13: 978-0345438317
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- MSL Picks -
This book is about Tsar Nicholas II and his family. The focus is on the family with the great events of early twentieth century swirling in the background. It is more about Nicholas as a husband and father than Nicholas as the imperial ruler of an empire on the brink of collapse. Like all families, the Romanov's had their burdens and their main burden was the fact that their only son, and heir to the throne, had hemophilia.
Nicholas II was the son of Tsar Alexander III and his empress, Marie Fedorovna, who had been born Princess Dagmar of Denmark. Nicholas, through his mother, was the first cousin of King George V of England. King George V of England, through his father, was also the first cousin of Nicholas' wife, Alexandra. Nicholas' wife, Alexandra, was also a first cousin to Kaiser William II of Germany and William II was also a distant cousin of Nicholas himself. Nicholas' German born wife, Alexandra Fedorovna, was born Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstadt.
Nicholas and Alexandra had five children, four daughters and a son. The son, Alexis, was the youngest child and heir to the throne. In the book we see Nicholas and Alexandra as well to do parents raising their children and struggling with their son's disease. The fact that Nicholas is the Tsar of all Russia and the future of the Romanov dynasty rests on the shoulders of his sickly son serves to add to the stress endured by the family.
Massie, the author, wrote the book from the point of view of the family struggling with the son's disease because his own son has hemophilia. In his forward, Massie states that he became interested in this project as a result of his quest to learn how other families coped with this disease in one of their children and the Romanov's were the most famous family in history with this problem. It is Massie's contention that the Tsarevich Alexis' hemophilia was the major factor in weakening the monarchy and bringing Lenin and his Bolsheviks to power. While this point can be disputed, Massie does marshall considerable facts to support his theory. As with Richard III, whose horse lost its shoe and fell during the Battle of Botsworth Field thereby causing the battle to be lost, one can always question "would history have been different if ...". Like that of Richard III, the reign of Nicholas II had many other difficulties and mistakes and the question will always be did they fail because of their mistakes or because of a fateful event.
In the book, Massie describes how the Empress Alexandra's concern over Alexis' hemophilia turned into an obsession as she sought in vain for a cure. When doctor's and the medicine of the day failed to produce a cure she turned to the mad monk Rasputin. In his concern over his wife's obsessive behavior and his own concerns for the son he loved, Nicholas became distracted from affairs of state while war (World War I) and revolution swirled around him.
What Massie has written is a biography of Nicholas II as a family man with the great political events of the early twentieth century as a backdrop ?a reversal of the usual format for a famous person's biography in which the great events are the theme and family life a mere backdrop. But Nicholas and his family could not escape the events of the day and when the Bolsheviks rose to power the family was arrested and ended up being held captive in a house in the city of Ekaterinburg on the eastern slope of the Ural mountains. On the night of July 16, 1918 the family was awakened and told to dress and go to a room in the basement. Nicholas, carrying his young son who was too weak from his disease to walk, led the family to the basement room. There were three chairs in the room and Nicholas and Alexandra sat on two of them while laying Alexis across the third. Their four daughters stood behind them. Also in the room were some members of the imperial household staff that had remained with the family. Shortly after midnight their Bolshevik captors entered the room with drawn weapons and proceeded, Mafia style, to brutally gun down the family and their staff. The bodies of the murdered family and their staff were then taken out into the countryside where they were hacked to pieces with saws and axes, doused with gasoline and burned. After three days of attempting to totally obliterate the bodies, the remaining fragments and ashes were gathered up and dumped down a mine shaft. Eight days after the brutal murder White Russian forces (those who opposed the Revolution were called the Whites while the Bolsheviks were the Reds) captured the city but were too late to save Nicholas and his family.
(From quoting Chuck Nugent, Resident Scholar, USA)
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From Publisher
Robert Massie's sympathetic portrait of Russia's last czar and his family was a bestseller thirty years ago and has enjoyed renewed interest since the fall of communism. Massie and Crouse read alternating sections, a technique that makes the long narrative more easily digested. Massie, the academic, is authoritative, if not dramatic; Crouse holds the listener's attention with her smooth, even delivery, and is convincing in handling Russian words. The material in this program is fascinating, particularly Massie's heart-wrenching account of the young heir Alexis's suffering from hemophilia. The overall effect humanizes a mythical family that had a far-reaching effect on the unfolding of the twentieth century. D.B. An AUDIFILE Earphones Award Winner.
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Brentmark (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
Robert Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" is a biographical study centered on the lives of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia. Massie's portrayal of the last ruling Romanavs is like many other works on the subject in that it is poignant, dramatic, and vibrant; but never dull. However, Massie's work stands out above other works on the subject for its thorough account of the lives of the imperial couple and most of all, its sympathetic portrayal of them.
Nearly all works of the period agree that Tsar Nicholas II was not the blood-drenched despot the Bolshevik revolutionaries claimed him to be, and although he may not have been as benevolent as his contemporary Franz Josef of Austria-Hungary, he at least lacked the bellicose nature of his German counterpart (and early advisor), Wilhelm II. Massie's account demonstrates how Nicholas II was ill-prepared to ascend the throne in after Alexander III, but unlike the contention of other historians, Massie makes a reasonable case in defending the intelligence of the fallen autocrat.
Massie's account of Nicholas and Alexandra does not absolve the couple from their failure to prevent the collapse of the reign and ultimately their country, but it does partially excuse their inflexibility and fatalism on the serious of misfortunes that continued to plague Nicholas from the very day of his coronation; when hundred of Russian peasants were stampeded to death in a overzealous crowd on Khodynka Meadow. Yet, no Romanov apologist can ignore the detrimental influences on Nicholas's reign, including his wife Alexandra, a German Kaiser, and especially a corrupt starets. That such an array of persons from various strata of society could at times impose their will on a man raised to be an autocrat was a tarnish on Nicholas' character.
Despite his habit of being easily swayed at times, Nicholas is not one-dimensional in Massie's account. It is noted how Nicholas ignored the advice of able ministers and most of all; remained unyielding to grant the masses of his subjects the representation and constitution they desired-until it was too late. Even Massie can be counted among the historians who muse whether the Romanov dynasty might have survived had the Tsar been more accommadating to the popular demands of his people-or if war had not erupted in the manner it did in 1914.
Although Massie's work is very thorough, it only briefly touches the clandestine operations of the Tsarist police state in rooting out revolutionaries and assassins from its masses prior to 1917. Indeed, other works (e.g. Edmond Taylor's "The Fall of the Dynasties") are careful to point out that Tsarist police included a host of known double agents whose loyalties were perpetually in doubt. While Massie makes note of that insecurity in his account of Prime Minister Peter Stolypin's assassination in 1911 by a Tsarist agent, he fails to explain how widespread the problem actually was. Indeed, Taylor describes as monarchy's slide to collapse as a "suicide", not because they were unable to stop that slide, but rather because they were unwilling.
Just as it is difficult to excuse the corrupt system of Tsarist counter-revolutionary activity, historians are also unable to justify the Russia's policy in WWI of placing the needs of France above that of her own. The disaster at Tannenburg early in the war is described in detail by Massie, and is correctly portrayed as a premature offensive launched by Russia (with the support of Nicholas) to rescue its beleagured ally from the German onslaught through northern France. Indeed, even after his abdication and arrest, Massie notes how Nicholas pleaded with Kerensky to continue to support the Russia's allies in the war effort-a mission with which the Provisional Government leader would complete in the summer of 1917 with disastrous consequences. Although Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" does not outright label the monarchy as a principle agent of its own destruction, his book nevertheless provides a strong case to the conclusion that the last rulers (and their ministers) of the Romanov dynasty practiced an inexplicable policy of self-immolation.
It is perhaps this mystery-or lunacy-of the Romanovs that continues to fascinate so many readers 90 years after their unglorious deaths in their Siberian imprisonment. Undoubtedly, the story of the last Romanovs will continue to perplex students of history for decades to come, and Robert Massie's work will will remain the foremost account of the twilight of Imperial Russia. |
Steven Shurba (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
The Author, Robert Massie, happened upon the writing of this book through his research to find out how others dealt with hemophilia. His son suffers from the disease as did the son of the last tsar of Russia. Wow...I happened upon this book by first seeing the english production of the film nicholas and alexandra. The movie was excellent but the book exceeds that of course. Read this book and obtain an understanding that people even in power are to be pitied. These poor souls were first the victims of their sons disease, Rasputin, the mystic but resourceful priest and the changes that Russia inevitably was to go through. This history of a country and a ruler, his wife and his family has often times made me wonder about their horrowful fate. These people did not deserve what they received in the end and I hope you draw this same conclusion after you read this novel. As the trailer notes state..."A larger than life drama, so bizarre, so heartrending, and above all, so apocalyptic that no novelist would have dared invent it"... Read it, you'll agree. |
Shane Smith (MSL quote), USA
<2008-03-07 00:00>
The story of Nicholas and Alexandra the last Tsar And Tsarina of Russia is one of the most Tragic love stories the world has ever known. Their glorious begining and their horrifying end, still continues to facinate thousands of people today. This book is like a journey back through time, taking you directly into the world of the Russian Imperial family. It's actually like you are living their lives day by day.
Massie has done a wonderful job in depicting the life of Nicholas and Alexandra. The books text is well researched and easy to read. You can breeze from chapter to chapter with complete understanding of what you have read. The text is also well balanced between political aspects of their life as well as personal aspects. Some Romanov books are way to political and deal to much with the difficulties concerning government in Russia. The book stays on task and makes you want to keep reading.
I could honestly not put the book down, it's really that good. It's so rich and well written. The only part of the book that can be misleading is the final chapter, when the family is actually executed. But that can be forgiven for when this book was originally written there was not alot of information avalible concerning their death. Massie makes up for this in his book THE ROMANOVS: THE FINAL CHAPTER, which is another must read. No Romanov library is complete without this book. to read it is to grasp a better understanding of Nicholas and Alexandra. |
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