I’m constantly drawn to this era of history, and WW1 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. Massie’s story of the fall of the Romanovs 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. (This whole sepia thing is suspiciously good. It’s entirely possible I’ve unknowi...

Massie presents a fantastic view of the Romanov family in Nicholas and Alexandra. Not only the inner workings of Nicholas and Alexandra's relationship but the bigger picture elements of their family, such as the impact that Alexei's Hemophilia had on launching Rasputin into the national spotlight, giving him access to the Imperial family few others had. There are several chapters dedicated singularly to the explanation of Hemophilia which I found very helpful as my knowledge of the condition was...

Excellent biography about the last tsar and tsarina of Russia! Includes black and white photos.

This is the third biography that I’ve read by Robert K. Massie. He’s a fabulous writer and his books have a way of grabbing me from the get-go. I’ve been enjoying reading about Russian history, which I had been quite ignorant about until I started on his books. I knew how this story was going to end and how tragic it would be. Massie is such a great writer, that I was engaged throughout. What I didn’t know is how frustrated I would get with certain key characters. We have a son with hemophilia, ...

Nicholas added, "I shall maintain the principle of autocracy just as firmly and unflinchingly as it was preserved by my unforgettable dead father." Gosh, this book! I read it with such a dual response: the political side of me condemned everything to do with the Tsar from his opulent lifestyle (the palaces! the yachts! the jewels!) to his stubborn refusal to allow any form of democratic representation to the 130 million Russians under his rule. The plight of the Russian soldiers, especially, ...

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 dance...

Robert K. Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra is a sprawling, elegantly written portrait of Russia's last Tsar. Massie's prose is beautiful and his depth of research 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 murder story, most obviously) but thi...

Nicholas & Alexandra is the tragic and compelling story of the last Tsar and his family by Robert K. Massie, this book was first published in 1968 and is an amazing and historically accurate account of the fall of the Romanovs and the collapse of Imperial Russia but is also The story of Nicholas a husband and father and a family who dealt with a child suffering from haemophilia.The focus of this book is on the family but with an engrossing account of one of the century's most dramatic events...

NO SPOILERS!!!On completion: I very highly recommend this book to those interested in Nicholas and Alexandra Romanov, to anyone interested in Russian history, to those interested in the beginning of Bolshevism in Russia and also to those who enjoy historical biographies written by talented authors. Massie can write. He knows his subject, in and out, backward and forward. There are detailed notes to every chapter. You never have to doubt the accuracy of that which you are reading. He analyzes all...

"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...