Title: Nicholas and Alexandra Author: Robert K. Massie
Published: June 30, 1967
Genre(s): Nonfiction
Page Count: 640
Rating:
Summary from Goodreads:In this commanding book, Pulitzer Prize–winning author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of Imperial Russia to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.
Robert Massie’s biography of the final days of the Romanov dynasty is full of detail, atmosphere, and evident research. I wouldn’t say that Nicholas and Alexandra covers one of my favorite historical eras or explores the lives of my favorite historical figures, but I absolutely cannot fault the author’s work here. There is a reason Massie won a Pulitzer, and his vast talent is on display in this book.
What I think stands out most about this book is that the author doesn’t romanticize his subject. He is factual and objective, not clearly taking a side or allowing his bias to skew his narrative. The book is just as critical of Nicholas and Alexandra’s personal and political failings as it is of the brutality with which they and their children were murdered. I felt that I gained a very comprehensive, honest picture of the couple and their situation, which I very much appreciated.
Because this book is so massive, Massie is able to delivery great quantities of information and background context, all of which aid in the portrait he paints. I never felt, however, that Nicholas and Alexandra was overly lengthy or dense. The facts are delivered in an engaging manner that kept my attention; I never felt that anything was irrelevant or unimportant.
Any reader looking to learn more about the Romanovs would be hard-put to find a better book to start with than this. Robert Massie gives an excellent and complete biography here, one that is well-organized and highly readable.
