The Flight of the Romanovs Book

Conspiracy and murder, imprisonment, torture, flight, and abduction punctuate the story of the Romanovs, Russia's last imperial dynasty, during their last century. In The Flight of the Romanovs, the most comprehensive history of the Romanov family to date, John Curtis Perry and Constantine V. Pleshakov tell a tale of glittering sadness, of unfulfilled expectations and squandered opportunities. As with any family, the Romanovs provide a saga of love and lust, of personal tensions and rivalries, of antagonisms and even hatreds. Perry and Pleshakov use a wealth of previously untapped sources, including unpublished diaries of many of the principal characters, interviews with people who knew them well, and never before published photographs to create a history of a family and a time. The Flight of the Romanovs recounts the story of this fascinating family in vivid detail, from the youth of the future tsar Alexander III in the 1860s until the death of his daughter Olga Alexandrovna the last grand duchess in 1960. Along the way we learn of the relationships between Alexander III and his children, the conspiracy against Rasputin, Duke Dimitrie's affair with Coco Chanel, the hostile behavior of the House of Windsor toward the Romanovs and the war between the Romanovs and the secret police. Many Russians now blame the Romanovs, rulers of Russia for three hundred years, for a legacy of material poverty and political repression. Many other Russians now look back on the imperial era as a lost paradise, when a demigod presided over the nation, providing the daily bread and insuring the physical security of his--or her--people. Concluding with a discussion of the imperial restoration movement in Russia today, The Flight of the Romanovs will provide a new perspective for all contemporary readers wishing to understand this family and their role in Russian history.Read More