Rasputin: The Last Word Book

Whilst the Russian revolution of 1917 was undoubtedly a revolt of the masses--disgruntled peasants, weary soldiers and sailors, and angry industrial workers--there was one man whose singular role in the downfall of the Tsarist regime is beyond dispute: Grigory Rasputin. Rasputin, a peasant turned religious mystic, became court sage to the imperial family in the last decade of its existence, after his extraordinary powers seemed to have cured Alexei, Nicholas II's haemophiliac son. Rasputin and his band of mainly female followers came to symbolise all that was decadent, corrupt and remote about the Imperial family, especially when it was rumoured that Rasputin was not only shaping Russian policy during the First World War, but was also enjoying an intimate relationship with the empress. Utilising the file of the Commission of Inquiry, set up in March 1917 to investigate Rasputin's activities, Edvard Radzinsky, the author of the acclaimed The Last Tsar, tells the colourful tale of Rasputin's life--his membership of the Khlyst religious sect, his predatory sexuality, his scheming against his enemies and, in an impressive climax, all the grisly details of his murder in December 1916. The book reads like a film screenplay: vivid, compelling and unforgettable, like its subject. Miles TaylorRead More