I'm constantly drawn to this era of history, and World War One in particular. I think it's the juxtaposition of old and new worlds, with individuals shaped by the 19th century struggling to cope with a rapidly changing environment. Robert K. Massie's story of the fall of the Romanovs, *Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty*, doesn't disappoint. He is an excellent narrative historian, and here his writing takes on a "sepia" quality—reading is like looking at old photographs. (Th...

Robert K. Massie delivers a truly fantastic look at the Romanov family in *Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty*. He dives deep not only into Nicholas and Alexandra's personal relationship but also into the broader family dynamics. He explores how Alexei's hemophilia catapulted Rasputin into the national spotlight, granting him unparalleled access to the Imperial family. Massie dedicates several chapters to explaining hemophilia, which I really appreciated because my understan...

An excellent biography of the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia, Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty by Robert K. Massie! It even includes black and white photos. If you're looking for compelling historical biographies, especially about the Romanovs, this is a must-read.

This is the third biography I've read by Robert K. Massie. He's a fabulous writer, and his books grab me from the get-go. I've been enjoying learning about Russian history, which I was pretty clueless about until I started reading his books. If you are looking for interesting **book reviews** about Russian history, Massie is your author. I knew how this story would end and how tragic it would be. Massie is such a great writer that I was engaged throughout. What I didn't know was how frustrated I...

Nicholas added, "I shall maintain the principle of autocracy just as firmly and unflinchingly as it was preserved by my unforgettable dead father." Gosh, what a book! Reading *Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty* by Robert K. Massie evoked such a conflicted response. The politically-minded side of me condemned everything about the Tsar, from his opulent lifestyle—the palaces, the yachts, the jewels!—to his stubborn refusal to grant any form of democratic representation to ...

A sweeping, tragic, impossibly romantic family saga; this is history so compulsively readable that I finished it in a single weekend. I knew, of course, how the story ends but I found myself caring so much that I longed to see history re-written. I found myself wishing, hoping against hope, that it would not end *that way*. Theirs was a true love-match though it seemed an unlikely one to Russian high society which judged the young Princess Alix of Hesse-Darmstead as “badly dressed, an awkward d...

Robert K. Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty is a sprawling, elegantly written portrait of Russia's last Tsar. Massie's prose is beautiful, and his depth of research is impressive, doing a beautiful job conjuring both the Tsar's court and the agonies of late Tsarist Russia, from the abortive revolutions and feeble attempts at reform to the disastrous wars with Japan and Germany. Inevitably, much of the book has been superseded by 45 years of new evidence (Rasputin's...

Robert K. Massie's *Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty* is the tragic and compelling story of the last Tsar and his family. First published in 1968, this book is an amazing and historically accurate account of the fall of the Romanovs and the collapse of Imperial Russia. But it's also the intimate story of Nicholas, a husband and father, and a family grappling with a child suffering from hemophilia. The book masterfully focuses on the family against the backdrop of one of t...

NO SPOILERS!!!Having finished it: I highly recommend **Nicholas and Alexandra: The Fall of the Romanov Dynasty** by Robert K. Massie to anyone interested in Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov, Russian history, the rise of Bolshevism in Russia, or just well-written historical biographies. Massie is a masterful writer. He knows his subject inside and out, backward and forward. Each chapter has detailed notes, so you never have to doubt the accuracy of what you're reading. He analyzes every angle, and ...

"Nicholas asked for chairs so that his wife and son could sit while they waited. Yurovsky ordered three chairs brought and Alexandra took one. Nicholas took another, using his arm and shoulder to support Alexis, who lay back across the third chair. Behind their mother stood the four girls and Dr. Botkin, the valet Trupp, the cook Kharitonov and Demidova, the Empress's parlormaid. Demidova carried two pillows, one of which she placed in the chair behind the Empress's back. The other pillow she cl...