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blauerbuchling's review against another edition
5.0
Ich bin generell eine große Freundin von Smiths historischen Sachbüchern zur russischen Geschichte, und „Der letzte Tanz“ hat mich wieder nicht enttäuscht. Mit dem gewohnten angenehmen Schreibstil führt Smith die Lesenden anhand der Schicksale zweier großer russischer Adelsfamilien durch die beschwerliche Zeit in Russland zwischen 1900 und den 1940ern und beschreibt den unglaublichen Fall und die rücksichtslose Auslöschung der Aristokratie. Sicherlich ist dieses Buch nicht für schwache Nerven; besonders die unfassbare Willkür während der stalinistischen Ära, mit der Leute verhaftet, ins Lager geschickt oder gleich umgebracht wurden, geht ordentlich an die Nieren. Aber es wurde brillant recherchiert, bietet eine großartige Bibliografie für weitere Nachforschungen und beschreibt die Tragödie über den Tod der russischen Aristokratie mit viel Respekt und Wärme.
msgtdameron's review against another edition
4.0
This is an excellent history/biography of the Russian Aristocracy from WWI through the end of WWII. It's part biography in that it follows two family's, the Shermatoves and Golystins. It's history as weaving the families lives through all the political upheaval of the Revolution, Civil War, NEP, the various show trials of the early thirties, the Terror of the purges, and The Great Patriotic War. This is also an excellent follow up volume if you have read The Romanov's by Simon Sebag Montefiore.
Former people is a great read to get the Russian Aristocracy from the death of the Tsar to the end of the WWII.
Former people is a great read to get the Russian Aristocracy from the death of the Tsar to the end of the WWII.
aislingoh's review against another edition
4.0
I found this book really riveting and couldn't put it down. This is a rare quality for a history book while they are usually interesting but not this well writen. The combination of the general history and the individual stories keeps it interesting. Although there are far too many characters to keep track of. This is an area which has been ignored, there has not really been a focus on this class of people who disappeared from Russia.
There is a definite bias towards the aristocracy in the book. It is highlighted how educated they are and how all the great writers and composers came from that class. Well of course they did, if you were an illiterate peasant toiling in the fields for your master you are not going to get much of an opportunity to use your talents even if you have them.
I didn't think that I had a much sympathy for the people in the book as other reviews, however the reason is not due to heartlessness (I hope) its due to the sheer numbers of characters. If I have one criticism of the book it is that there were too many and it was hard to keep track of who was being mentioned. Maybe if he had picked a smaller number and focused more on them I would have felt more sympathy for them. By the second half of the book I was loosing interest in remembering the story of each person and just took each anecdote in its own right. I couldn't remember who this person was who was being arrested or that person being shot. Although obviously the stories are saddening, there were many people who suffered in the great terror of the 30's and this has been widely documented, to increase interest a few stories would have been much more effective.
Obviously the treatment they received was not deserved but having read so much about what the ordinary people suffered it is hard to feel sympathy for those who were so incredibly rich before the revolution knowing the level of the poverty in Russia at the time. In no way am I excusing what went on but in some cases it explains the excess. Serfdom was not abolished long and this was slavery in exactly the same way as it was in other areas of the world. These people were only a couple of generations from that and lived in an incredible level of poverty while the aristocracy were living lives of huge riches from the rents the poor were paying for them. A bit more balance and context is needed.
So while there are criticisms of this book its a great read on a newish subject so 4 stars for me.
There is a definite bias towards the aristocracy in the book. It is highlighted how educated they are and how all the great writers and composers came from that class. Well of course they did, if you were an illiterate peasant toiling in the fields for your master you are not going to get much of an opportunity to use your talents even if you have them.
I didn't think that I had a much sympathy for the people in the book as other reviews, however the reason is not due to heartlessness (I hope) its due to the sheer numbers of characters. If I have one criticism of the book it is that there were too many and it was hard to keep track of who was being mentioned. Maybe if he had picked a smaller number and focused more on them I would have felt more sympathy for them. By the second half of the book I was loosing interest in remembering the story of each person and just took each anecdote in its own right. I couldn't remember who this person was who was being arrested or that person being shot. Although obviously the stories are saddening, there were many people who suffered in the great terror of the 30's and this has been widely documented, to increase interest a few stories would have been much more effective.
Obviously the treatment they received was not deserved but having read so much about what the ordinary people suffered it is hard to feel sympathy for those who were so incredibly rich before the revolution knowing the level of the poverty in Russia at the time. In no way am I excusing what went on but in some cases it explains the excess. Serfdom was not abolished long and this was slavery in exactly the same way as it was in other areas of the world. These people were only a couple of generations from that and lived in an incredible level of poverty while the aristocracy were living lives of huge riches from the rents the poor were paying for them. A bit more balance and context is needed.
So while there are criticisms of this book its a great read on a newish subject so 4 stars for me.
keepreadingbooks's review against another edition
4.0
This is a wonderful book if you, like me, are into all things Imperial Russia and not just the Romanov dynasty or the Tsars in general. As Douglas Smith mentions himself, this is the first book in any language to examine the faith of the Russian nobility after the Revolution and in the coming communist decades - first under Lenin and then Stalin.
It is of course a non-fictional historical account and thus you can't avoid being bombarded with loads of information, but Smith manages to choose just the right things to include about the historical events in general, while still keeping to the point and focusing on the fate of the majority of the nobles - and his focus is on two families in particular, the Counts Sheremetev and the Princes Golitsyn, which makes it a rather personal account, really, and keeps you engaged in a much different way. The epilogue especially got to me.
I also found it interesting to learn how the nobility felt about the changes following the revolution - surprisingly, many of them encouraged the revolution and were relieved when Nicholas II abdicated, as most viewed him as the reason for the recent unrest and in general as a weak emperor.
Minor things that prevents it from being a 5-star read:
I'm ok with the information overload, really, but throughout the book he throws in different persons, and their personal accounts or comments or diaries or whatnot, that you haven't heard of before in the book. All you know is that this person belongs to the nobility - sometimes you are not even sure if they have a connection to the families mentioned or if it is just a random noble person who happened to write something down about the particular thing Smith wanted to highlight. This can be rather confusing but does nothing to cloud the meaning of the book at all, and is thus only a minor annoyance.
What I enjoyed (and studied a lot) were the family trees in the beginning of the book. They were immensely helpful especially in the first part of the book. What I enjoyed less was that Smith then mentions several other family members who don't appear in the trees, which is probably because they are further out, which of course is fair, but since a lot of the Russian nobility carry the same names this became a tiny bit frustrating once or twice. More elaborated explanation of who these family members were connected to would have been great. Or just larger family trees, perhaps!
Overall a very enjoyable read for anyone who loves reading and learning about the Russian nobility and what really happened to the Russian people in the decades after the Revolution.
It is of course a non-fictional historical account and thus you can't avoid being bombarded with loads of information, but Smith manages to choose just the right things to include about the historical events in general, while still keeping to the point and focusing on the fate of the majority of the nobles - and his focus is on two families in particular, the Counts Sheremetev and the Princes Golitsyn, which makes it a rather personal account, really, and keeps you engaged in a much different way. The epilogue especially got to me.
I also found it interesting to learn how the nobility felt about the changes following the revolution - surprisingly, many of them encouraged the revolution and were relieved when Nicholas II abdicated, as most viewed him as the reason for the recent unrest and in general as a weak emperor.
Minor things that prevents it from being a 5-star read:
I'm ok with the information overload, really, but throughout the book he throws in different persons, and their personal accounts or comments or diaries or whatnot, that you haven't heard of before in the book. All you know is that this person belongs to the nobility - sometimes you are not even sure if they have a connection to the families mentioned or if it is just a random noble person who happened to write something down about the particular thing Smith wanted to highlight. This can be rather confusing but does nothing to cloud the meaning of the book at all, and is thus only a minor annoyance.
What I enjoyed (and studied a lot) were the family trees in the beginning of the book. They were immensely helpful especially in the first part of the book. What I enjoyed less was that Smith then mentions several other family members who don't appear in the trees, which is probably because they are further out, which of course is fair, but since a lot of the Russian nobility carry the same names this became a tiny bit frustrating once or twice. More elaborated explanation of who these family members were connected to would have been great. Or just larger family trees, perhaps!
Overall a very enjoyable read for anyone who loves reading and learning about the Russian nobility and what really happened to the Russian people in the decades after the Revolution.
clairen's review against another edition
3.0
Lo scopo dell'autore è raccontare il destino dell'aristocrazia russa in generale e di due famiglie allargate in particolare, gli Šeremetev e i Golicyn, durante la rivoluzione russa e poi nello stato sovietico.
Il tema è estremamente interessante, i rivolgimenti della storia russa sono appassionanti, violenti e tragici, e Smith fa notare che il suo è il primo lavoro che si occupa interamente della classe nobiliare.
Il problema fondamentale è che il libro è troppo, troppo corto per poter raccontare in modo chiaro la sorte di tutte le persone che sceglie di prendere a soggetto. Se prendiamo un altro libro che si occupa di cose simili, [b:The Whisperers: Private Life in Stalin's Russia|29287337|The Whisperers Private Life in Stalin's Russia|Orlando Figes|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1456297676s/29287337.jpg|3337574], che prende in considerazione la vita in tempo staliniano seguendo alcune persone, senza però fare distinzioni di classe, troviamo che ha almeno seicento pagine, e quando lo leggi non ti sembra di stare perdendo i fili qui e là. Former People è lungo forse la metà, e parlando di moltissime persone in così poco spazio diventa confusionario, tant'è che ben presto ho rinunciato non solo a capire le parentele, ma anche chi fosse esattamente chi (tranne qualche eccezione): questo nonostante la presenza di un elenco di dramatis personae, e di un albero genealogico, perché purtroppo quest'ultimo è troppo semplificato, e il primo è semplicemente incomprensibile. Non ho apprezzato la scelta di Smith di evitare l'uso del patronimico che, con così tante persone con nomi simili o identici, avrebbe aiutato nella distinzione.
La conseguenza di questa confusione è che era difficile sentire un attaccamento verso queste persone, nonostante le loro vicende lo chiamassero, e di questo mi dispiace molto.
Si può però prendere il libro come una sorta di ripasso veloce delle vicende della rivoluzione, della guerra civile, e del periodo staliniano (il libro si chiude con la Seconda Guerra Mondiale) - ed è anche per questo che mi viene da dire che mi è sembrato un The Whisperers versione light - oltre che un esempio efficace di cosa poteva succedere a membri di una stessa famiglia in tempi così incerti: madri che non conoscono le sorti dei figli, fratelli emigrati e altri finiti in un gulag, qualcuno che vive vite di grande successo all'estero, qualcun altro che sogna con nostalgia il paese che ha lasciato e di cui non conosce la difficile realtà, altri che muoiono apolidi in paesi stranieri senza poter mai più rivedere i propri cari.
marciapoore's review
4.0
Fascinating, and shocking, history of what became of the Russian aristocracy after the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. It is staggering to hear about the millions upon millions of Russians who were killed, imprisoned and left to starve by Lenin, Stalin and their followers.
lnatal's review
3.0
From BBC Radio 4 - Book of the Week:
By Douglas Smith. Revealing account of what happened to the Russian aristocracy in the Bolshevik Revolution. Read by Robert Powell.
By Douglas Smith. Revealing account of what happened to the Russian aristocracy in the Bolshevik Revolution. Read by Robert Powell.
mcxwell's review
5.0
Doesn't shy away of informing you of the horror and inhumanity faced from the Bolshevik revolution to the end of ww2. Millions died or disappeared. Many family members would not be told of their deaths, only that their punishment had changed.
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