Nicholas and Alexandra (original 1967; edition 1996)

God, this wrecked me. Just as in Catherine the Great, Massie is an absolute wizard. How he manages to keep sense of names and dates and then translate that into something that never feels boring or dense is beyond me. An absolute masterpiece. Even in knowing what the end result was, I still couldn't help but be so shocked with how everything played out. Every member of the Imperial family is so lovingly fleshed out, especially Alexis, that the gruesome murders at the end felt like a death in the family. Brilliant and heart wrenching. Love. 5 stars. ( )

The amateur historian's dilemma is that she knows that history is a narrative itself. History as "truth" does not exist; even the seemingly inviolable high-school history textbook contains bias. This does not mean that it's sinister or for an ulterior motive. It's just impossible to write history in a purely objective way. This is true for primary sources and this is true for secondary sources like [b:Nicholas and Alexandra|133486|Nicholas and Alexandra|Robert K. Massie|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1333577599s/133486.jpg|2453716].

With that said, I am not giving this book my ultimately meaningless number of stars based on the authenticity of the history. I do not know enough of about the events and people involved to be able to say, with authority, that Massie's interpretation is true. He holds a clear sympathy for the Imperial family and utmost distaste for the Bolsheviks and Lenin. This is not something inherently wrong: dramatic, world-changing events like the Russian Revolution and the motivations of those involved have been subjected to every possible viewpoint. I just give this as a warning to any potential "historians" like me who seek to read this (or any history book) in an attempt to get authentic information.

As far as the book itself, I was absolutely captivated. The "Gilded Age" and the life of nobility before the First World War has always fascinated me, and Massie's depictions of the lives of the titular characters and their family was enthralling, detailed, and most importantly, tragic. The murder of the Imperial Family has always held an intensely morbid curiosity for me and Massie adroitly maintains his incredible power of depiction as the book covers the terrible events of 1917. The language does not get heavy or incredibly academic. It remains wholly readable throughout. I would go so far as to claim it was nearly a novel in some aspects.

The book's greatest strength is also its biggest flaw, which is the reason I cannot give this one a full rating. The author becomes swept away in romanticizing the Romanovs, their lifestyle, their closeknit family live and in doing so, tries to "clear" their name for the historical record. The second half of the book, concerned with their lives after Nicholas' abdication, attempts to paint them as victims of a brutal, reactionary revolution. While their ultimate fates were terrible and not deserved, the author makes no effort to remind the reader that their situation was of their own making and that their fates may have been averted had they listened to the warnings. It's hard to see them as truly victims, despite the author's insistence of their piety, patriotism, and love for themselves and their subjects, when they continued to adamantly cling to their privileges as the very fabric of society crumbled around them.

That said, I still found this book breathtaking and heavily worth a read or several. ( )

A novelistic account of the decline and fall of the last Tzar and his family. Symbols of a world gone by. A perfect storm of events conspire to bring them down, and you feel quite sympathetic for the Tsar and his family, as they appear to be another set of victims. ( )

After reading Catherine the Great by the same author, I got interested in Russian history – as long as it’s well written and accessible. So, I bought this book (written in 1967) and two others by the same author. I have read quite a bit about World War I; Russia’s revolution and the murders of the Tsar and his family were covered briefly. This book, Nicholas & Alexandria, tells their stories in detail. And what a story it is!

Of course, the story is sad start to finish, with readers knowing how tragically their lives ended. Mr. Massie goes into great depth about the influence of the “mystic” Gregory Rasputin over Alexandra and how his guidance – especially his belief that the Russian people somehow “needed” autocracy in order to be governed -- pushed her (and she pushed her husband) into some terrible decisions that probably spelled their doom. And it’s easy to see why Alexandra became such a hated figure in Russia.

Still it’s a sad story, but well told and extremely engaging. I found it quite interesting that Nicholas’s and Alexandra’s letters to each other, which are quoted extensively, were actually written in English ( )

A monumental work. Utterly compelling and thorough. Apart from an objective and well researched account of the last Russian tsar Nicholas Romanov and his family and including the facts of the beginning of the Romanov dynasty, Robert K. Massie skillfully imparts clarity to a number of historical events of the period, not the least of which are the freakish circumstances of history (such as Rasputin's influence on the royal family) that produced grave consequences for Russia. Quite a few outstanding revelations for me. A excellent book.

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