Ratings9
Average rating4.5
From the acclaimed author of Amelia Lost and The Lincolns comes a heartrending narrative nonfiction page-turner--and a perfect resource for meeting Common Core standards. When Russia's last tsar, Nicholas II, inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. With their four daughters (including Anastasia) and only son, a hemophiliac, Nicholas and his reclusive wife, Alexandra, buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew into the Russian Revolution. Deftly maneuvering between the lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia's peasants and urban workers--and their eventual uprising--Fleming offers up a fascinating portrait, complete with inserts featuring period photographs and compelling primary-source material that brings it all to life.
Using period photographs, compelling primary-source material, and riveting text, this book shares the story of Russia's Nicholas II and his wife, who lived in opulence as World War I raged on. The text contains violence and racial slurs.
Reviews with the most likes.
A great read (listen)! Basically all I know about this era of Russian history is, humiliatingly enough, from the animated movie Anastasia, so I spent the whole book being like, but where's the talking bat??? j/k. I mean for real there's no talking bat in this book, but it's a very compelling historical narrative with great use of primary source documents. I liked that the audio version had other readers for the letters and journals. It kinda spiced things up.
It's also a great combination of humanizing the Romanov family and understanding how and why they were so cut off from the world, but also of how desperate the peasants were.
also MURDER.
Summary: This nonfiction novel chronicles the lives of Tsar Nicholas (Russia’s last tsar), his family, and the Russian people. It is a fascinating read that tells of the atrocities committed against the Russian people, the drama surrounding the royal family and their relationship to the mysterious Rasputin, and the uprising of the lower classes.
I know I'd love my historically women's liberal arts college so much better if they had Russian history classes