Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #64473 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages

Customer Reviews

Rasputin - Victim or Villain? - an ever facinating story
The Rasputin File or the last word on Rasputin.

I believe that a Russian writing on a very Russian phenomena is a bless. Understanding Rasputin requires a lot of understanding for the Russian soul. How could a person or personality as Rasputin could become so influential? How could he dominate the Empress and through her the Emperor? How did he mange to have such a large following? The book gives very clear answers and one understands, without forcing the reader to accept or approve of Rasputin. It is as well a vivid picture about the Russia before the Revolution and of the Imperial Family. Did Rasputin had healing powers? Did he see the future? Was he the love of the Empress? Radzinskii deals with all these questions in an open and balanced way with deep inside. Was he a victim or a villain? Read the book and decide for yourself. You will find a lot to think about and form your own opinion. I suppose that will not be the last book on Rasputin as this story is just too fascinating not to write about but all following books will have to deal with Radzinskii' s findings and opinions. This book is a pleasure to read!!

Everything you wanted 2 know about Rasputin but...
Synopsis: In 1995 a file written by the 1917 Russian Provisional Government Extraordinary Commision turned up detailing thoroughly Rasputins life from police monitoring and people around him. Edvard Radzinsky, who is the Russian equivilent of David Starkey, reviews this file to gain insight into this mysterious character

Review: By reviewing this file, the author explains Rasputin very effectively.
Through the book you will discover how his religion excused his controversial behaviour and who really murdered Rasputin, arguably causing the fall of the Tsar's. You may also learn how a primitive version of the Atkins diet nearly foiled Rasputins murderers!

In addition to all this, the book also shows how strange the Russian imperial court was (e.g. Rasputin's suspected murderer, Prince Yusupov, was a known transvestite). It also teaches a lot about the relationships in the Romanov dynasty before its fall in 1917 and how rotten the structure was.

Annoyingly, the book does not provide much of a conclusion to Rasputin and is written more in the way of a book of sources rather than a subjective analysis. It would be nice to have a summary opinion from the author who in the end leaves a load of untied threads.

Despite this, it is a great book and anyone wanting to know Rasputin better or even write a book on him should read this as it is a thorough and enjoyable account.