Customer Reviews

Nicholas and Alexandra

5 star:		(117)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is generally considered to be the definitive biography of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. Massie's expert storytelling is well-suited to the compelling story of the last Russian tsar and his consort. The history of Russia was no doubt changed by the deliberate myopia and general inadquacies of these two people. Nevertheless, Massie manages to uncover a more sympathetic side to the ill-fated duo. Massie's writing is as good as that of any acclaimed novelist - there's a fascinating and fastpaced plot, finely nuanced lead characters, an intriguing supporting cast, all against a beautiful background of a majestic bygone era.

This book was researched and written before the fall of the Soviet empire when the state archives were opened and new information about the Romanovs was revealed. Consequently, this book is necessarily incomplete, especially as concerns the execution of the royal family. Massie has since written another text called "The Romanovs: The Last Chapter" which devels deeply into the newly available data and the forensic studies that followed. Consider it an essential volume II to "Nicholas and Alexandra".

I started a love affair with European royalty while in junior high, and as luck or fate would have it, Robert Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra was published during this time. I was bitten by the Romanov bug and have suffered from this malady ever since.

Nicholas and Alexandra, the last Tsar and Tsarina of Imperial Russia, came from a distinguished royal pedigree. Nicholas was the son of Tsar Alexander III, and his aunt was Princess Alexandra of Wales. Alexandra was a Hessian princess and granddaughter of Queen Victoria. As youngsters, they fell in love and "Nicky" knew that "Alix" was fated to be his bride. Theirs was a true love match at a time when royal marriages were arranged for any reason but love.

Two events conspired to cause the Romanov tragedy. First, Nicholas was not a very strong-willed man. He let others dominate him (including his wife). When his father died suddenly at the age of 49, the young Nicholas was totally unprepared and untrained to be Ruler of all the Russia's. Second, Nicholas and Alexandra were very family oriented, and it was a crushing blow when their 5th child and only son was born with hemophilia. In desperation, they alienated much of Russia (to protect this secret) and fell under the harmful influence of Rasputin. Russia was ripe for revolution, and Nicholas and Alexandra were too blind to see what was happening in their own country until it was too late.

Massie does a stellar job of bringing Russian history to life in a way that reads like a novel. He also writes with a passion born of experience. When his son was born with hemophilia, Massie started researching how hemophilia affected the royal houses of Europe-especially the Romanov's. He details not just Russian history, but the history of this dreaded disease including various types of hemophilia, treatments, new advances, etc. The only negative about this book is in the timing. Massie wrote what was known in the late 1960's. But since the fall of communism and perestroika, we now know so much more about what happened to the Imperial family. Massie took this new information and finished the story in The Romanov's: The Final Chapter. One book should not be read without the other.

Nicholas and Alexandra is one of my favorite nonfiction books, and I find myself rereading it every five to six years or so. I enjoy it just as much with each subsequent reading. My original paperback was in such tatters that I finally treated myself to a new hardback copy. Even after all these years, the tragic fate of the Romanov's continues to haunt us.

Massie's work is very readable; more like a novel than a biography. There were times I couldn't believe some of the intimate details could be real, for how would Massie know? But at the back of the book he has extensive notes indicating the sources for all the details including diaries and memoirs. I thought Massie did an excellent job illustrating the roots of World War I, especially the relationship between Nicholas and Kaiser William II. Also excellent was the way he makes the enigma of Rasputin understandable and how he reconciles the public disfavor and lack of understanding of the tsar and his wife with their noble intentions with the good of Russia in mind. In reading history it is easy to imagine that the participants were ignorant or oblivious to larger trends that would envelop them, especially in light of subsequent historical events. Massie's story brilliantly sheds light on the story of the last tsar such that the reader can genuinely understand the motivations of most of the participants. Very enlightening reading. I strongly recommend the book for anyone interested in Russian history or just looking for a readable story.

Most book lovers have a little list of super-favorites that they turn to year after year, and this classic by Robert Massie has been on my list for more than two decades. Massie brings the last years of the Russian Imperial court to astounding life, turning meticulously researched detail into a tapestry more compelling than fiction. You feel you've been there and met the Romanovs and the people around them, walked their halls, ridden in their trains, even faced their final terrors. Its as good as stepping into a time machine. How many times have I looked up from this paperback (I've gone through several copies over the years) and found that I've lost track of time. Recently, several lavishly illustrated books have come out with long-hidden photos of what NICHOLAS & ALEXANDRA describes -- gorgeous though those photo books are, they do not give you as powerful a sense of time and place as Massie's exceptionally readable prose. Details of Russian history, which could be ponderous for most readers, become lively and engrossing here. I love history, and no book in the genre pulls me back as often (or with as much satisfaction) as Massie's NICHOLAS & ALEXANDRA.

When this book first appeared in 1967, nothing anything like it had ever existed before. There were the original emigré accounts, most of them written in the 1920's and 1930's, which contained personal memories of the last tsar and his family from many points of view. There were the other historical sources which gave, for example, descriptions of Russian and European society in the time of Nicholas II, along with depictions of the cataclysmic events of war, revolution and regicide. The real brilliance of Robert Massie's "Nicholas and Alexandra" lies in the fact that he was able to weave these far-flung historical narratives into an intensely readable and informative whole, in the process resurrecting the last tsar and his family from the murky mists of time which had made them all but vanish from the attention of the world. A whole Romanov industry exists today, producing several new books on this tragic family every year. The public's fascination with this field, however, must surely be traced back to Massie's astonishing "Nicholas and Alexandra." It is a work of nearly faultless scholarship, fidelity to historical sources, and deeply moving human interest. It is unthinkable that one should let one's life pass by and leave this book unread. Get yourself a copy, loan it if you must, but don't ever let it stray forever from your shelves. It's that good.

Like a number of other reviewers, this is one that I set down and read about every three or four years. It is that delightful! I normally like my history a little more "hard core" but this work is an exception. It reads more like a novel than most biographies, yet is simply loaded with facts concerning the last Russian Tsar and his family. The book was of course written several years ago and new facts concerning this royal family and their country during this time period have come to light since that time. This is not a distraction in the least. A good story, well told, is still a good story and the author did quite well with in information available to him at that time. This work did, like other reviewers, strike a spark and interest in Russian history that has lead to much good reading since I first read it. For that I am grateful. Highly recommend this to any one who is not only interested in history, but for anyone interested in just a good human story.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

"Nicholas and Alexandra" was truly captivating. The vivid imagery sweeps one back to the final days of Imperial Russia; of balls, galas, war, revolution, an finally murder. Massie takes the stand, and with his words we relive one of the most mysterious, yet emotional struggles of early 20th century Russian history.

The way the book is written gives both the perspectives of a government in decay, complete with the political circumstances and key political figures of the time. However, the book often drifts off through the snow covered capital of St. Petersburg, to the ice cold walls of the Alexander Palace, where Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra became simply Nicky and Alix. In their private world at Tsarskoe Selo, the titles of "Their Imperial Majesties the Grand Duchess" and the Tsaravich simply became those names of children, from Olga to Alexis.

From these days at the Alexander Palace, Massie brought us up close to not only the Tsaravich's struggle with hemophilia, but also the struggle of a mother, Alexandra, whom had to bare it all, side by her son. In this came in the, in my opinion, intolerable abomination of a man the world knows as Rasputin.

The way Massie wrote of the influence of Rasputin on her Majesty the Empress Alexandra, and hence the influence on government, which led to the collapse of Imperial Russia, one clearly sees the faults that are shown within the Empress and her ineptitude to run an empire. However, at the same time, one feels for her and pays special attention to her religious beliefs, which influence much of the final outcome of her greatest mistake.

Finally, Massie depicts the final collapse of Imperial Russia on a swift day. This eventually leads to the imprisonment and final execution of the last Tsar, Autocrat of All the Russians, and his family. The breathtaking detail and account of their murder is extremely unsettling. One may think that reading of simply a murder, one of many, is not so great a shock, yet, as one has read this book from the very beginning, one has gotten to know, personally, the Imperial family, and cannot help but pity them.

This book is a great resource for one that has just become interested in this tragic episode of European History, or simply for one who wishes to learn more of this "Love that Ended an Empire".

Robert K. Massie's account of the last days of tsarist Russia is intelligently written. Even if one is not historically inclined, one will automatically find onself drawn to this tragic tale. The book is so desciptive that one is almost lead to believe that Massie himself witnessed every event. If I must add any criticism of the book, it would be that Massie overestimates the the influence that Rasputin had on the fall of the Imperial government. It is true that Rasputin helped hasten the government's downfall , but it would have fell nonetheless due its subjection to a weak ruler and his neurotic wife. In all fairness, I must say that this minor point is not enough to dissuade me from giving it five stars. It is a must read for all those who love history, especially Russian history!

This is not a "history book" so if you're seeking a remedy for insomnia, try somewhere else. You won't find dry, soulless lists of dates and facts or be patronized with tedious analyses of cause and effect. Nor will you be handed summary value judgments regarding each individual's contribution to history.

You will instead be taken into the confidence of the Romanovs and hear their story as it would be told by a dear friend of the family. Massie, himself the father of a hemophiliac, writes with a touching sympathy toward Tsar Nicholas, Empress Alexandra, and their son, Alexis, who suffered from hemophilia all of his tragically short life. Ample quotations from personal letters and diaries portray each character with the sort of intimacy and detail one expects in a well-written, character-driven novel.

The book is paced in a manor that keeps the interest of the reader. Dramatic events like the beer riot at Nicholas's coronation or the assassination of Rasputin are described in clear, stark detail that makes them memorable enough to be retold by the reader. Historical events tangential to the Romanov story, like the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand, are told quickly but thoroughly. The story is kept firmly in historical context without being drowned out by historical events.

Massie shows a movie director's ability to choose vivid, emotional images. I can almost see the hazy, orange cast to the scenes of little Alexis in his soldier's uniform charming all of the officers into joining in his games. I can imagine Alexandra reaching a pale, thin hand out of a train window. She accepts a proffered cornflower from one of her captors as the train begins to move, taking the disgraced family to Siberia. My mental movie screen fades to black before showing the bleak, dilapidated house that would be the family's prison.

The beauty of this book, however, is its unique presentation of the people involved. Nicholas and Alexandra come to life as undeniably good, and yet tragically flawed, human beings. More surprisingly, their family and its difficulties are entirely relatable. Nicholas's struggle to choose between his own judgment, his uncles' advice, his Mother's urgings, and his wife's effusively expressed opinions makes him a sympathetic "everyman" despite his wealth and power. And no author could create a character more colorful than Alexandra. Her blind acceptance of Rasputin's self-described holiness and her incessant meddling in politics make her an unwitting villain in the story. However, one can only admire her sincere faith and devotion to country and family. Unwilling to sit in luxury while Russia was at war, she and her daughters became nurses, braving the filth and stench to help the wounded men. The reader cannot help but sympathize with her, despite feeling a measure of contempt at her naiveté.

The main antagonist of the story is the infamous Rasputin. As I read about this rough, unwashed peasant and his rise to power, I frequently checked the spine of the book to verify that I was indeed reading a work of "nonfiction". Everything about the man, from his mysteriously hypnotic gaze to his inexplicable power over the Empress, belongs in the realm of fantasy fiction. His ability to ease the suffering of little Alexis can be explained by hypnotism, a psychological phenomenon that is much more understood today than it was when the book was written. However, the spell he cast over Alexandra and many of the other nobles defies reason. The passages about Rasputin, all rigorously documented, add a touch of surrealism to this drama that will fascinate those of us who delight in the unexplained.

The chief weakness of this work is its all-too-brief treatment of Lenin, the ultimate nemesis of Tsarism and of the Romanov family. It can certainly be argued that the life of Lenin belongs in a different book. However, Massie's brief passages about Lenin were so well written and intriguing that I wished there were more. If Rasputin is a fairy-tale black mage, Lenin is a comic book supervillian- brilliant, ruthless, and bitter. Moreover, Nicholas and Lenin provide for the perfect juxtaposition. It is quite easy to feel affection for the Tsar who loved his country more than his crown and his family more still. At the same time, Nicholas's neurotic unwillingness to assert himself and spectacularly poor judgment make him an object of pity. Lenin, in contrast, is cold and clever. One cannot help but admire his Machiavellian machinations while detesting him personally.

This entirely true story is more entertaining than many works of historical fiction. Whether you are a fan of drama, intrigue, war, fantasy, history, or romance, you will find something to keep you turning the pages. It is unusual to find a book that could be recommended to so broad an audience.

This is a sensitive narration of the life and death of Russia's last Tsar and his tragic familly. Massie writes clearly and eloquently and succeeds in bringing his characters to life and developing a genuine empathy with them.

Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra emerge as rather sad and pathetic characters, out of touch with reality and hopelessly unqualified for the role thrust upon them. Massie's fascinating thesis is that the Russian revolution may have been brought about by a haemophilia gene passed along from queen Victoria. That is probably an extremely romanticised view of history. A more likely truth is that the tragic end of Tsarist Holy Russia was an accident waiting to happen. A fragile system built on fragile people. That fragility more than anything else is what comes across from reading these pages.