 |
RASPUTIN
THE LAST WORD (Edvard Radzinsky) |
Rasputin is the Russian Monk credited with bringing down
the Russian Empire at the turn of this century while sleeping
with any woman, including nobility. He made the last Tsar
and his family the laughing stock of Russia and induced
much ridicule. And yet, no matter what, the Russian Tsar
and his wife remained faithful to this man of God. Surrounding
Rasputin was the belief he could heal just by using the
powers imbued in him from 'Mother of God' and could prophecies
and guided the Tsar in military matters. In the 80-odd years
since his assignation, he has achieved a reputation which
would surely rival that of Jesus in terms of the powers
he was believed to have... (which makes you wonder - if
one man can achieve this in a few decades, how much 'power'
has Jesus acquired over 2 millennia...).
In 1995, a friend of celebrated author and playwright,
Radzinsky, managed to purchase a 'missing file' that dated
back to 1917 when a huge investigation was made into the
final years of the Tsar Nicholas II, the Last Emperor of
Russia and his collapse. Although, you can raise questions
as to how this 'missing file' suddenly appears at Sotheby's
nearly 80 years after the investigation, but it is incredibly
insightful and has been verified to some extent at the back
of the book, with signatures correlated with documents which
have already been verified as authentic.
So armed with the contents of the 'missing file', and information
already published, Radzinsky puts together a fascinating
picture of the peasant-monk and his influence on the Last
Emperor and his file. If you like the fairy tale that has
grown up around Rasputin, then this book will crush you,
as Radzinsky ties together evidence which paints a picture
of man who is more human than a mythical servant of God.
True, there is a lot of conjecture in there, but the facts
do add up. That's not to say there aren't some aspects of
Rasputin which can't be explained in everyday terms. One
area which Radzinsky neglects just about completely is the
relationship Rasputin had with the heir, Alexei who suffered
from haemophilia, yet recovered when Rasputin was around.
A huge mystery still surrounds Rasputin's ability to heal,
and this book leaves that area wide open to speculation...
Radzinsky has a most peculiar writing style, which takes
a while to get used to. He has a habit of referring to people
by their nicknames (a habit Rasputin was fond of) - which
will undoubtedly have you backtracking to find out the definition
of the nickname many times. He also has a habit of linking
sections by referring to a person as 'him' or 'her' - leaving
you baffled as to who he is referring to. Other than that,
I'm sure he is just trying to leave you hanging by dropping
a hint in one section - and then jumping back to it a section
or chapter later...
Rasputin The Last Word is a truly compelling book which
will expose many truths about Rasputin - and introduce you
to more. The fall of the Russian Empire is a fascinating
period of time (and judging by Russia's current existence,
one which they are taking a LONG time to recover from),
and if this is your first foray into Russian history, it
won't stop... Radzinsky is good enough to answer lots of
questions about Rasputin, but it just opens the can of worms
on the rest of the players...
Return to top
 |
RASPUTIN:
THE SAINT WHO SINNED (Brian Moynahan) |
Many things have been said about Rasputin and the incredible
influence he wielded over the last Tsar of Russian, Nicholas
II. After reading the brilliant biography on Rasputin
from Edvard Radzinsky, I felt compelled
to find out more. This book came highly recommended at
Amazon,
so I bought it... Moynahan's book is interesting as it
is a distillation of all the reports of Rasputin prior
to the discovery of Radzinky's 'new documentation' at
Sotheby's in the mid-1990's.
Moynahan starts off with a writing style very reminiscent
of Massie's book on the Romanov's,
and tries to paint a picture of the atmosphere Rasputin
walked into. Then, somewhere about the middle of the book,
Moynahan suddenly turns on a tap of pure vitriolic hatred
and becomes very crude in his descriptions of Rasputin.
Then towards the end, he seems to recover and finish off
in a similar vein as to what he started. Although Rasputin
undoubtedly was some of the things described, I felt the
manner in which Moynahan felt compelled to depict Rasputin's
antics was a little extreme and over the top. I guess
one could argue Rasputin was a little over the top, but...
The book is very sensationalistic, although Moynahan
offers his own version of how Rasputin probably died,
although it is said in such a rush that I am sure there
are as many holes in that theory as the one offered by
Prince Yusopov! If you want to start learning about Rasputin,
then maybe this is a good start to get the sensationalized
lowdown - but I really recommend you continue on to read
Radzinsky's book which for all its
peculiar style of writing, is much more compelling than
this book!
Return to top
|
THE
ROMANOVS - THE FINAL CHAPTER (Robert K. Massie) |
It took over 60 years, but finally a grave was found
believed to contain the bones of the Romanov Family, believed
to have been brutally murdered by the Soviet's in 1918.
In 1978-79, Ekaterinburg geologist, Alexander Avdonin
met Moscow filmmaker, Geli Ryabov. Avdonin had held a
life time interest in the mysterious circumstances surrounding
the death of the last Russian Emperor and his family.
Ryabov was in Ekaterinburg and visited the Ipatiev house
where the Romanov's were believed to be executed. Despite
this being the height of the Cold War and Soviet secret's,
Ryabov learned of Avdonin's interest in the Romanov's.
Between the two of them, they began to go through the
historical reports of the investigation into the disappearance
of the Romanov's. Through deductions overlooked before,
they pinpointed the possibly burial place and set out
to investigate.
For 10 years, they kept the secret of the Romanov's burial
ground a secret, in part due to finances and largely due
to the state of the Russian government. But towards the
end of the 1980's when communism began to collapse, Ryabov
abruptly went public and tried to take full credit for
having found the Romanov's. It was a few more years before
the new powers in Russia were willing to lay to rest the
mystery of the Romanov deaths. What followed was a battle
over scientific ethics which just gives more fodder to
the conspiracy theorists...
Robert K. Massie's book is split into two parts - the
first part is dedicated to beautifully detailing the exhumation
of the Romanov's. In this, he may not have been as prosaic
as he was in describing the life of Nicholas and Alexandra,
but it is nonetheless clearly written and compelling reading.
He lays out the way in which the bodies were discovered
and lists and discusses the ensuing scientific battle
over the scientific DNA tests. So petty.... It would have
been a nice sense of closure though to have subsequent
editions summing up the results of the Orthodox Church's
decision on how to bury the Romanov's - instead of leaving
us hanging as is done in this book!
The second part of the book follows the long list of
people who claim to have escaped the massacre at Ekaterinburg
and are one of the missing Romanov's. In light of what
was revealed in the first half of the book, I don't think
there is much doubt about the claims of anyone claiming
to be an escaped Romanov... However, Massie outlines the
case of the more famous claimants and the evidence that
weighs for or against them. It is still interesting reading
because these people managed to convince people over nearly
7 decades that they escaped the massacre at Ekaterinburg
- and that takes a lot of skill and imagination!
Return to top
 |
THE
FILE ON THE TSAR (Anthony Summers & Tom Mangold) |
The mysteries with the Russian Family don't begin and
end with Rasputin, they continue after the monks death
and to the bizarre circumstances in which the last Tsar
and his family vanished 18 months later...
This book picks up 50-odd years later when the BBC funded
a program on the disappearance of the last Russian Tsar,
which led to the authors continuing research for another
5 years to result in this book. Between the cover, Summers
and Mangold cover many facets of the last Tsar and his
family and their mysterious disappearance on July 18,
1918. The first part of the book is devoted to a quick
summary of how the Romanov family found themselves in
Siberia and imprisoned in a house. After their disappearance,
the authors document the investigations that were carried
out and the many twists and episodes of subterfuge that
make just about any fact questionable.
Having established that most reports into Nicholas II
and his family death are a bit suspect, the authors present
the beguiling testimony of 'Anna Anderson' - or quite
possibly one of the missing daughters of Nicholas II -
Anastasia, from which many stories have sprung up. The
book concludes with the authors interpretation of the
evidence and what they think is most likely to have happened.
They freely admit much evidence is still missing, destroyed
or suppressed...
Bearing in mind this book was published in 1976, and
the missing bodies were discovered in 1979, this can make
some of the conclusions in this book a bit hard to deal
with as we now have a wee but more marginal evidence to
explain the mystery surrounding their deaths (to be reviewed
soon when I have obtained Massies's book on the
eventual exhumation of the bodies and DNA testing...).
Nonetheless, this book is desperately compelling reading
and bound to keep anyone keep anyone wishing to learn
more about this fascinating family turning the pages.
I am not going to go into spoilers about the authors conclusions
here...
WARNING: THIS
BOOK IS OUT OF PRINT!
However, it can easily be found by doing a search at Amazon
where it will appear listed by second hand book dealers
for sale. It can probably also be located at Abe
Books, a consortium of second hand book sellers.
Return to top
|
NICHOLAS
AND ALEXANDRA (Robert K. Massie) |
It was one of the greatest love stories of history -
and one of the greatest tragedies as well. Nicholas II,
heir to the the Russian Empire and one of a long line
of Romanov's to rule the Russia fell in love early on
with a German princess, Alexandra Fedorovna. Although
the Russian Royal Family opposed the marriage, circumstances
were in Nicholas' favour, and through a ghastly twist
in fate, he married the woman he loved. Their diaries
and letters reveal a passionate love which never faded.
However, some would say their union and Nicholas' reign
were riddled with bad omen's, right up until their tragic
and mysterious death.
If words can represent a painting, then Massie's opening
chapters are rich, colourful Monet spring garden painted
in pastels. So eloquent are his words and descriptions
that this book is such an incredible pleasure to read.
And then, as the Nicholas is thrust into the trials ahead
of him, sludgy greys and browns begin to creep into the
painting as one horror after another visits Russia. Not
only is this book a wonderful insight into the romance
between Nicholas and Alexandra, it is a very readable
history of the collapse of the Russian Empire and the
beginning of WWI. I found it fascinating.
My only quibble is to write such a wonderful book that
reads like a beautiful work of fiction which is tragically
true, is Massie doesn't give all the facts. He only presents
the one interpretation, which is nowhere more evident
that in his chapters and paragraphs dealing with Rasputin.
Although some valuable insight is given into Rasputin
and his relationship with the Romanov's, Massie pretty
much just gives the sensationalised version of Rasputin's
life - which one can pick many holes in. Such lack of
attention to fine detail does make one wonder how much
is else is evident throughout the book. But, that said,
I am sure the vast majority of the book is quite factual
and such a beautifully written eye-opener into this fascinating
part of history, that it should be made compulsory reading
for everyone interested in or wanting to learn more about
great events in history.
Return to top
