Product Description

Nicholas & Alexandra is the internationally famous biography from Pulitzer prize-winner Robert Massie. Massie shows conclusively how the personal curse of the young heir's haemophilia, and the decisive influence it brought Rasputin, became fatally linked with the collapse of Imperial Russia. As an engrossing account of one of the century's most dramatic episodes - and an intimate portrait of two people caught at the centre of a maelstrom - Nicholas & Alexandra is unlikely ever to be surpassed. 'The story of the last Tsar has probably never been so powerfully - and so accurately - told' Guardian

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #36486 in Books
• Published on: 1996-04-25
• Binding: Paperback
• 616 pages

Synopsis
Nicholas & Alexandra is the internationally famous biography from Pulitzer prize-winner Robert Massie. Massie shows conclusively how the personal curse of the young heir's haemophilia, and the decisive influence it brought Rasputin, became fatally linked with the collapse of Imperial Russia. As an engrossing account of one of the century's most dramatic episodes - and an intimate portrait of two people caught at the centre of a maelstrom - Nicholas & Alexandra is unlikely ever to be surpassed. 'The story of the last Tsar has probably never been so powerfully - and so accurately - told' Guardian

About the Author
Robert K Massie was born in Lexington, Kentucky in 1929. He studied American History at Yale University and Modern European History at Oxford University, which he attended as a Rhodes scholar. He lives in Irvington, New York.

Customer Reviews

Russian tragedy
This is the book that started my passion for Russian history and particularly the story of the last Tsar and his family. First published in 1968, it gives an unsurpassed picture of the private lives of the Romanovs and also the political drama they were involved in, and to some extent, created. The tragedy of Nicholas was that he was a weak man who was dominated by his wife and his family. He couldn't bring Russia into the modern world and revolution was inevitable because of the decisions he made. Above all though, this is the story of a family, a fairytale with a tragic ending. Interestingly, Massie gives an account of the murders at Ekaterinburg which has subsequently been confirmed by the discovery of the Romanovs' remains, and DNA testing which has confirmed their identities and quashed the claims of Anna Anderson to be Grand Duchess Anastasia. For once, the traditional story is correct, and the fairytale of a survivor of Ekaterinburg has been dismissed.

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. Mr Massie is obviously a huge fan of the Tsar which tended to cloud the direction of where the book should have headed. Little if nothing at all is said about the starving millions in the fields of Russia of those dying in her urban factories. All of this is a great shame given the amount of time and research Mr Massie must have put into his book.

A Book worth Reading
When learning about Russian History in my A Level history class two years ago, i became hooked on the Romanovs and have been ever since. This was the first book i picked up and it really couldn't have been more helpful. The indepth look at the private lives of the Romanovs is tragically beautiful and this book is about as close as you are going to get for a biography for Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastacia and Alexi. WORTH READING, BUY IT NOW! I have never found another book more helpful than that. By the end of reading it i knew more than my history teacher and did a number of lessons to the class on the family.
---By the way, the person who reviewed this book as being 'biased' may like to know that there is no history book that can ever claim to be free of a bias of some sort - just thought you'd like to know that in case you are doing history. Its a fundamental lesson to remember that.