Rasputin : the downfall of the Romanovs / Antony Beevor.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Beevor, Antony, 1946- Author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Rasputin, Grigoriĭ Efimovich, 1869-1916.

Rasputin, Grigoriĭ Efimovich.

Rasputin, Grigoriĭ Efimovich, 1869-1916--Influence.

Romanov, House of.

Russia--History--Nicholas II, 1894-1917.

Russia.

Russia--Court and courtiers.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

xii, 361 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm

Edition:

First United States edition.

Other Title:

Downfall of the Romanovs

Place of Publication:

New York, NY : Viking, 2026.

Summary:

"A new biography of one of history's most disturbing, dubious masterminds, showing how a Siberian peasant, through his seduction of the imperial household, contributed to the collapse of the greatest autocracy in the world. When Russia's Dowager Empress was pregnant with the future Tsar, she dreamed that a peasant would one day kill her son. The idea terrified her, and for the rest of her days she 'lived under the pressure of the prophecy'. Did the prophecy come true with the arrival at court of a mysterious, barely literate moujhik from Siberia, Grigori Rasputin? In this extraordinary portrait of an enigmatic character, Antony Beevor brings readers closer than ever before to Rasputin's scandalous life and death. Though he had no official position at court, Rasputin's hold over the Romanovs became the stuff of legend. Exaggerated accounts of political and financial corruption swirled around him, to say nothing of the stories of his debauchery with the Empress and even her daughters. The consequences of the rumor and conspiracy theories were devastating-when the February revolution broke out in 1917, hardly a sword was raised in the Tsar's defense. Through extensive use of previously unpublished reports, interviews, and interrogations, Beevor shows the truth of Rasputin's rampant lust and opportunism, victimization of poor and vulnerable women, and deep hypocrisy and corruption."-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

Crossroads in Siberia

Young Rasputin

The New Reign

The Curse of Khodynka

The First Guru and the Heir

The War Against Japan

The Near-revolution of 1905

Rasputin in St Petersburg

The Dowager Empress's Dream

The Mad Monk Iliodor

'A Monster of Audacity'

Rasputin in the Nursery

The Assassination in Kiev

Rasputin and his Arch-enemy

Saving the Tsarevich at Spała

The Romanov Tercentenary, 1913

Felix and Dmitry

The Stabbing of Rasputin

Outbreak of War

Kissing the Tsar's Shadow

Rasputin and Women

Bad Behaviour

Scandal and Threat

The Tsar Takes Command

The Empress's Boudoir Cabinet, Autumn 1915

Russian Farce

Ministerial Leapfrog

On the Eve of the Apocalypse

The Assassins

The Deed

'Murdered by Monsters'

A Family Affair.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 315-350) and index.

Local Notes:

Athenaeum copy: Miller Fund bookplate.

Other Format:

Online version Beevor, Antony Rasputin

ISBN:

9798217061181

OCLC:

1528821000