A highly illustrated, colorful biography of one of our most celebrated, dark heroes of the past. Not only does the factual, biographical content of the book make fascinating reading but the true story of this extraordinary man's life is more dramatic than fiction could ever be. The background of one of the world's most exciting periods of history is told by teh author with a unique and exciting flavor, making today's political and world scene pale against the powerful Russian contemporary story in teh late 19th and early 20th century.
Rasputin's life story is set against the madness of religious fervor, the complex machinations of the Russian royal family at at ime when everything was at stake - the birth of communism, a political monster that we are today witnessing the fall of -the end of paganism within a society that dominated one fifth of the world's physical geography, and the witnessing of a poeple who were then undergoing a complete transformation from total domination to revolutionary "freedom".
With over 150 color and black and white photographs and illustrations, many of which may never have been seen before by the reader, the full power of this "Rascal Master" is portrayed in the most evocative and dramatic style.
In the seventy years since his death, Raspustin has joined the historical culture of men like Hitler, Cesare Borgia, and Caligula in the pantheon of satanic supermen. The name Rasputin is recognized universally with a frission of excitement and recoil; "The Mad Monk" and "Russia's greatest love machine" who brought down the Romanov dynasty in an orgy of sex and violence and dark satanic practices.
In fact, Rasputin's life did consist of most of the ingredients necessary to make a popular arch-fiend: intimations of supernatural power; erotomania; religious fervor; intimacy and undue influence over the Russian royal family combined with a bizarre and mesmerizing appearance.
In a great country swept by maladies and social discontent, where the people believed in the power of magic, Rasputin gained an image that was to be synonymous in the popular mind with wickedness and wild sexual and sorcerous excess, a myth that was to influence one of the most important periods of the world's history.
Rasputin was a man of exceptional energy and power who retained the simplicity and strength of a Siberian peasant as he moved through every stratum of Russian society, playing four major roles to the full: Man, Mystic, Messiah and Myth.
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When I first picked this book up, I was taken aback by the size of it and the amount of pictures it contained. I was under the impression that any book with a type-set so large and so chock full of photos would be childish in its presentation. This book, although not exhaustive, was certainly a very good introduction to the man that was Grigori Rasputin.
The book is divided into three sections, each detailing a different aspect of Rasputin's portrayal (i.e. The Man, The Messiah, and the Myth.) Each section does much to describe how popular opinion contrived this image of him, and furthermore, what the truth behind this image was. The photos that the book contained (some actual photographs, some taken from the plethora of movies about Rasputin that were made after his death) were actually very entertaining, and did a lot to further solidify the true striking nature of the man's appearance.
Finishing this book made me feel that I had a better grasp of who Rasputin was, and how he affected the overall political climate of Russia at the time in which he lived. While it was by no means as in-depth as The Saint Who Sinned (I cannot attest to how exhaustive The Rasputin Files is as I have not yet had the pleasure of reading it) I would certainly highly recommend this to anyone who is searching for a good introduction to the ever fascinating story of Grischa. (