Secret Lives of the Tsars

Secret Lives of the Tsars
Author: Michael Farquhar
Publisher: Random House
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812985788

“Michael Farquhar doesn’t write about history the way, say, Doris Kearns Goodwin does. He writes about history the way Doris Kearns Goodwin’s smart-ass, reprobate kid brother might. I, for one, prefer it.”—Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post columnist Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world’s most engaging royal historian chronicles the world’s most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity. We meet Catherine the Great, with her endless parade of virile young lovers (none of them of the equine variety); her unhinged son, Paul I, who ordered the bones of one of his mother’s paramours dug out of its grave and tossed into a gorge; and Grigori Rasputin, the “Mad Monk,” whose mesmeric domination of the last of the Romanov tsars helped lead to the monarchy’s undoing. From Peter the Great’s penchant for personally beheading his recalcitrant subjects (he kept the severed head of one of his mistresses pickled in alcohol) to Nicholas and Alexandra’s brutal demise at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Secret Lives of the Tsars captures all the splendor and infamy that was Imperial Russia. Praise for Secret Lives of the Tsars “An accessible, exciting narrative . . . Highly recommended for generalists interested in Russian history and those who enjoy the seamier side of past lives.”—Library Journal (starred review) “An excellent condensed version of Russian history . . . a fine tale of history and scandal . . . sure to please general readers and monarchy buffs alike.”—Publishers Weekly “Tales from the nasty lives of global royalty . . . an easy-reading, lightweight history lesson.”—Kirkus Reviews “Readers of this book may get a sense of why Russians are so tolerant of tyrants like Stalin and Putin. Given their history, it probably seems normal.”—The Washington Post

Secret Lives of the Tsars

Secret Lives of the Tsars
Author: Michael Farquhar
Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2014-07-08
Genre: History
ISBN: 0812979052

“Michael Farquhar doesn’t write about history the way, say, Doris Kearns Goodwin does. He writes about history the way Doris Kearns Goodwin’s smart-ass, reprobate kid brother might. I, for one, prefer it.”—Gene Weingarten, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner and Washington Post columnist Scandal! Intrigue! Cossacks! Here the world’s most engaging royal historian chronicles the world’s most fascinating imperial dynasty: the Romanovs, whose three-hundred-year reign was remarkable for its shocking violence, spectacular excess, and unimaginable venality. In this incredibly entertaining history, Michael Farquhar collects the best, most captivating true tales of Romanov iniquity. We meet Catherine the Great, with her endless parade of virile young lovers (none of them of the equine variety); her unhinged son, Paul I, who ordered the bones of one of his mother’s paramours dug out of its grave and tossed into a gorge; and Grigori Rasputin, the “Mad Monk,” whose mesmeric domination of the last of the Romanov tsars helped lead to the monarchy’s undoing. From Peter the Great’s penchant for personally beheading his recalcitrant subjects (he kept the severed head of one of his mistresses pickled in alcohol) to Nicholas and Alexandra’s brutal demise at the hands of the Bolsheviks, Secret Lives of the Tsars captures all the splendor and infamy that was Imperial Russia. Praise for Secret Lives of the Tsars “An accessible, exciting narrative . . . Highly recommended for generalists interested in Russian history and those who enjoy the seamier side of past lives.”—Library Journal (starred review) “An excellent condensed version of Russian history . . . a fine tale of history and scandal . . . sure to please general readers and monarchy buffs alike.”—Publishers Weekly “Tales from the nasty lives of global royalty . . . an easy-reading, lightweight history lesson.”—Kirkus Reviews “Readers of this book may get a sense of why Russians are so tolerant of tyrants like Stalin and Putin. Given their history, it probably seems normal.”—The Washington Post

The Last Tsar

The Last Tsar
Author: Edvard Radzinsky
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 522
Release: 2011-03-30
Genre: History
ISBN: 0307754626

Russian playwright and historian Radzinsky mines sources never before available to create a fascinating portrait of the monarch, and a minute-by-minute account of his terrifying last days.

The Race to Save the Romanovs

The Race to Save the Romanovs
Author: Helen Rappaport
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2018-06-26
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 125015121X

In this international bestseller investigating the murder of the Russian Imperial Family, Helen Rappaport embarks on a quest to uncover the various plots and plans to save them, why they failed, and who was responsible. The murder of the Romanov family in July 1918 horrified the world, and its aftershocks still reverberate today. In Putin's autocratic Russia, the Revolution itself is considered a crime, and its anniversary was largely ignored. In stark contrast, the centenary of the massacre of the Imperial Family was commemorated in 2018 by a huge ceremony attended by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox Church. While the murders themselves have received major attention, what has never been investigated in detail are the various plots and plans behind the scenes to save the family—on the part of their royal relatives, other governments, and Russian monarchists loyal to the Tsar. Rappaport refutes the claim that the fault lies entirely with King George V, as has been the traditional view for the last century. The responsibility for failing the Romanovs must be equally shared. The question of asylum for the Tsar and his family was an extremely complicated issue that presented enormous political, logistical and geographical challenges at a time when Europe was still at war. Like a modern day detective, Helen Rappaport draws on new and never-before-seen sources from archives in the US, Russia, Spain and the UK, creating a powerful account of near misses and close calls with a heartbreaking conclusion. With its up-to-the-minute research, The Race to Save the Romanovs is sure to replace outdated classics as the final word on the fate of the Romanovs.

The File on the Tsar

The File on the Tsar
Author: Anthony Summers
Publisher:
Total Pages: 430
Release: 2002
Genre: Russia
ISBN: 9780752849379

The world was told that the last Tsar of Russia and his family were butchered in the 'cellar massacre' at Ekaterinburg in 1918. Yet diplomats and reporters did not believe it. And the longest court case of the century failed to explode Anna Anderson's claim to be the Tsar's youngest daughter, Grand Duchess Anastasia.Anthony Summers and Tom Mangold spent five years tracking down witnesses and long-lost documents. The search led to Moscow, Tokyo and Washington and their persistence finally paid off when they found a suppressed official dossier - the File on the Tsar. It shows that the public was fed a lie. The Romanovs did not all die at Ekaterinburg, but became pawns in an international power game, involving Lenin, the Kaiser, the British Royal Family and British Intelligence. And in London, over 80 years later, the cover-up goes on.

A Guarded Secret

A Guarded Secret
Author: Julia P Gelardi
Publisher: Julia Gelardi
Total Pages: 198
Release: 2019-01-20
Genre:
ISBN: 9781733528429

In the summer of 1904 as Russia was convulsed in the Russo-Japanese War, an event of great joy occurred when a baby boy was born to Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra. After the arrival four daughters, the longed-for male heir to the Romanov dynasty, Tsarevich Alexei, had completed the family of Nicholas and Alexandra. The happiness of the imperial couple was soon dashed, however, by the tragic news that their only son and heir was afflicted with the painful and often fatal, bleeding disease, hemophilia. The ill-health of the heir to the throne was a well-guarded secret that cast a deep shadow over the final years of imperial Russia. Here is the dramatic story of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra during those years as they struggled to deal with their son's infirmity which brought the controversial Rasputin into the imperial court. Follow their story from the joyful day of Tsarevich Alexei's birth in 1904 to its moving and dramatic denouement.

Rescuing Nicholas

Rescuing Nicholas
Author: Ben Everidge
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2018-01-12
Genre:
ISBN: 9780998911533

For over 400 years the Tsars ruled Russia. Nicholas II would be the last. History convincingly says that the Romanov family was murdered by rebellious Bolshevik soldiers. Executed to secure power for a new revolution led by the notorious Vladimir Lenin. Rumors of their survival lived on. Seventy years later, their remains were finally discovered in a hidden grave deep in a conveniently remote forest. Russia closed the investigation into their assassination. History needed the Romanovs dead.But there was an eyewitness. A U.S. Army soldier from Knoxville, Tennessee, who spent a remarkable two weeks with Nicholas, Alexandra, and a Grand Duchess, aboard an American Red Cross train sixteen months after they were said to have been brutally killed. A credible eyewitness who left a previously undisclosed 45-minute recorded account that tells a very different side to the Romanov lore than what history now reports. Rescuing Nicholas, as remembered by the soldier¿s family, is Martin Hutson¿s story of perhaps the greatest unknown rescue mission in history. Hidden for a century. Led by an American president and a king of England. Kept secret from Congress and Parliament. Supported by an intriguing cast of talented accomplices: The president¿s son-in-law, the former head of the U.S. Secret Service; the American secretary of war; an iconic American commanding general, Black Jack Pershing; his right hand, West Point¿s Major General William Sidney Graves; a United States Consul General in Siberia; a wealthy American industrialist from Chicago; a handful of experienced railroad men from the American Midwest; daring soldiers from the U.S. Army¿s American Expeditionary Force Siberia; a future White House resident; and a number of surprising British dignitaries including a future prime minister.Lies. Loyalty. Family. War. Mystery. Tsar. Power. Bribery. Bloody murder. This book digs in to it all and explores in depth why Nicholas Romanov ¿died . . . so that he could live.¿ It is a true story found buried deep in the American and British archives. But, will history care 100 years later?

Tsar

Tsar
Author: Peter Kurth
Publisher: Back Bay Books
Total Pages: 230
Release: 1998-11-01
Genre: History
ISBN: 9780316557887

This spectacular illustrated history tells the story of the last Romanovs - one of the great tragic love stories of all time - with unparalleled vividness & intimacy. The text, which follows Nicholas & Alexandria from their childhood's to the Siberian cellar where their lives ended, is complemented by rare images from the imperial family's private collections (locked away for decades in Soviet archives, & published here for the first time), as well as by contemporary full-color photographs of the places & palaces the Romanovs knew.

The Romanovs

The Romanovs
Author: Virginia Cowles
Publisher:
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2017-04-13
Genre:
ISBN: 9781521062432

For over 300 years, the Romanov family ruled over Russia.Its glittering Tsars and Tsarinas were autocratic despots, who between them embraced all the vices (and too few of the virtues) of absolute rulers.Their name has become a byword for excess, avarice and cruelty, they have aroused intrigue and horror in equal measure. Virginia Cowles offers a portrait gallery of the outstanding members of this incredible family -- from Alexis (a Tartar in his wrath) and Peter the Great (a terrifying giant) to the nymphomaniac Catherine and the doomed Nicholas II, last of the Tsars.Their domination of Russia was brought to an end in March 1917, as a result of the February Revolution. Of the 65 family members, 18 were killed by the Bolsheviks and the remaining 47 were exiled abroad.Delving behind the mass of obscure and unfamiliar historical detail, she reveals the characters and personal ties behind these strange, and often daunting, figures. She looks beyond what is written about them in the history books and explores how their family lives and secrets affected the entirety of Russia and its many citizens. 'Recounted at great speed, and with splendid life, vigour and readability' - Antonia Fraser, Evening StandardVirginia Spencer Cowles OBE was a noted American journalist, biographer, and travel writer. During her long career, Cowles went from covering fashion, to covering the Spanish Civil War, the turbulent period in Europe leading up to World War II, and the entire war. After the war, she published a number of critically acclaimed biographies of historical figures.