Customer Reviews

The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar: New Truths Behind the Romanov Mystery

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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1 star:		(1)

 

 

"I can no longer except the standard version of events as reliable or complete" (Richard Spence, professor of history and chair University of Idaho). This quote I must say I agree with completly and so will you after you read this book. When I first sat down to read this book I already knew a lot about the Romanov family and they're supposed fate on the night of July 17, 1918. As I read I would question all the things that I thought proved they had actually perished. Well I was soon to be surprised, McNeal displayed all my doubts on a table and answered all my doubts and convinced me that the family may have not died.
McNeal has resurfaced a book long forgotten called Rescuing The Czar. This book is based on two diaries by two men who claim they saved the Imperial family from the control of the Bolsheviks and helped them escape Russia. As McNeal goes along in her book she presents evidence that supports the books claim, with events, people, and documents that have only now become accessible that no one could have known about in the time period that this book was written unless they were actually involved in the rescuing of the family. Through both of these books and the evidence shown to me, I can now say that the Family could have escaped the horrible fate that history says they met.
The reason that I did not give this wonderful book four stars instead of five, is that the the text can be quite confusing from time to time. I found myself going back and re-reading passages just to fully grasps what it was trying to say to me. That as a whole is the only thing that bothered me as I read the book.
I would seriously recomend everybody to read this book if you find the events in Ekaterinburg surronding the Imperial family deppressing. It will give you new hope and make you feel a lot better.

I have read this book and numerous others on the subject. This one is by far the best. In 2004, after this book was published, Stanford University and the Japanese government independently discredited the DNA evidence of an execution. There is now no physical evidence of an execution but there is a great deal of evidence for a rescue. The information in this book has even more relevance now than when it was released in 2001. I applaud Shay McNeal for her diligent research. She has opened my eyes and I hope many others.

When looking back at some of the twentieth century's biggest mysteries, the fate of the Romanovs ranks high on the list. The final chapter of Russia's imperial family has been reported as being a violent end to a strange imprisonment. But is it true? Just exactly what did happen in Ekaterinburg on the night of July 17, 1918?

Shay McNeal's book "The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar" looks at both physical evidence and testimony given over the years to try and answer those questions. While the text is undoubtedly non-fiction, parts of it read like a historical novel - the story is that intriguing. McNeal unravels the delicate political situation that many governments found themselves a part of in the midst of World War I and the Russian Revolution. These political machinations tell a story of double-dealing, two-track political/financial policies, and secret codes that tell a story more incredible than the best James Bond film.

But while all of the covert operations that surrounded the fate of the Romanovs are intriguing, some are a bit confusing. There were many individuals involved, and not everyone used their real name throughout the tale. While this is to be expected, for a non-historian reader like me, the book was a bit confusing at times. I'll admit that parts of the financial situation went over my head, but the heart of the story - what happened to the family - is written very well, and I was able to follow it easily.

McNeal makes her point crystal clear when she prints various witness testimonies, then compares them for inaccuracies. While I was familiar with the Yurovsky note, I had never compared it to the testimony he gave a group of Bolsheviks in 1934, and when McNeal presents the two accounts side-by-side, the inconsistencies are astounding. She also digs up a 1920 text called "Rescuing the Czar", and shows how the fantastic story depicted in the book could, in fact, have been the truth.

Does "The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar" tell exactly what happened to the Romanovs? Certainly not. But McNeal shows enough holes in the accepted version of events to have me questioning everything that I'd previously believed to be true about the "murders". It's certainly enough to get you thinking.

Shay McNeal's book provides a comprehensive review of not only the evidence of the fate of Tsas Nicholas II and his family but a detailed analyisis of the theories and rumors surrounding this infamous part of Russian history. It is the obvious result of extensive research that is presented in a manner to keep the reader's attention throughout. This compilation of available information surrounding the various attempts to secuer the safety of the Romanovs following their capture by the Bolsheviks should be must reading for all who want to increase their understanding of these circumstances and the impact they continue to exert on the soul of Mother Russia.

This is one of those books that try to tell you something happened other than the way accepted history has taught us. I would put it in the category of those books that prove Hillary Clinton murdered Vince Foster, that ETs brought the stone statues to Easter Island, that Robert Kennedy murdered Marilyn Monroe, and that Christ and Mary Magdalene escaped and lived their lives out in the south of France. In this case, the author tries to prove that the last ruling Romanov family was not massacred in the basement of that house in Ekaterinburg.

All too often, the author resorts to phrases like "It could have happened that..." or "It is possible that..." or "It cannot be ruled out that possibly...." Then, the huge leap is made from because it could have happened, then it did happen. The prose style is often unreadable because of so much repetition, as if repeating what might possibly conceivably have happened to excess makes you believe that it did, in fact, happen.

A lot of footnotes do not prove anything. Because two people happen to be in the same city at the same time does not mean they are conspiring to do something top secret. Because the name Jones appears in two different places does not mean it's the same person. If all nouns in telegrams are codewords, then the word "family" does not suddenly mean "family." Or if it does, "the late family" means the family is dead, not that the family is still alive. To me, "the late Imperial family" means exactly that, and we are not to disregard the word "late" and pretend it's not there. The author does not seem to appreciate the difference between American English and British English, so that an American message really would say, "The family is beginning its vacation," while she would want a more British-sounding "The family are beginning their vacation." That messages between Americans do not follow the rules of British grammar is not proof of a conspiracy concerning the Tsar's family.

I don't understand why one woman is called a confidant, while another woman is a confidante.

SPOILER ALERT: I won't reveal the complete ending, but the author wants us to accept the assertion that the Imperial family ended up on a certain island in a certain year, but then she stops. Common sense would suggest that she needs to go a little farther and tell us what happened next. It makes no sense to leave the story hanging like that, unless there is going to be a sequel in which she wants us to believe they were taken away by a UFO to the planet KooKoo.

ANOTHER SPOILER: And as an example of ludicrous scholarship, the author tells us more than once that the family escaped through a tunnel to the British consulate (or to the Consul's house). I want to know how far the two buildings were apart, how long the tunnel was, was the tunnel there for years, or was the tunnel hastily dug by some early team of Tom Cruise Mission Impossible operatives. Who knew about the tunnel? Does it still exist? Did it ever really exist? Could someone have sketched a rough map indicating the location of the two buildings and the tunnel between them...with a scale to show approximate distance? The author's echoing of other people's assertions (like this tunnel business) raises more questions than she is able (or willing) to answer.

Over the years I have read a number of books about Russian history and particularly on the end of the 19th century and early 20th century. Recently I read this book and was impressed by the wealth of information and detail about the end of the Romanovs and about the various efforts to retrieve the family. Incidentally, it covers the events not just in Russia but also the other allies' activities surrounding the last days of the Romanovs. I recommend it for students of Russian history because it contains names and events that they would not necessarily have heard about in the past. If you are new to this story you may have to persevere because it is not a surface account. But it is a fascinating and illuminating book that added a great deal to my knowledge of events in Russia we don't always hear about. I like the fact that she does not conclude that the Imperial Family survived or died. She alllows you to decide based on the additional facts she brought to light.

When I first became interested in the Romanovs I knew very little about Russian history so the context was difficult for me. Some suggested I read the standard books that are the usual recommendations. Then one of my professors suggested I read The Secret Plot to Save the Tsar so that I could put the events leading up to the final days of the Tsar and his families' lives in Siberia into context. I am so glad I did,

For anyone really interested in what was going on in Russia in 1918 this is absolutely a book you will not be able to put down. While McNeal's first book attempts to walk between an exciting read and an academic exercise, I never felt betrayed on either level. It was worth investing my time.