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236 reviews for:
Nicolau e Alexandra: O relato clássico da queda da dinastia Romanov
Robert K. Massie, Angela Lobo de Andrade
4.28 AVERAGE
236 reviews for:
Nicolau e Alexandra: O relato clássico da queda da dinastia Romanov
Robert K. Massie, Angela Lobo de Andrade
4.28 AVERAGE
Dit boek is geschreven in 1967 en staat nog altijd bovenaan in de top van boeken over de Romanovs. Robert Massie is een geweldige verteller, die het onderwerp van haver tot gort kent. Nicholas and Alexandra is meeslepend en ontzettend goed en geeft een goed inzicht in hoe het keizerlijke Rusland tot een einde kwam en vooral ook waarom.
Robert Massie is, of course, a spectacular historian. The material he has here is fascinating enough. Add to that his exacting scholarship and his ability to weave a story. He is rather more dry than David McCullough or Doris Kearns Goodwin. And if I had to choose one word to describe this biography, it would be "exhaustive" in every sense. But I really enjoyed learning about the Romanovs and their absolutely heartbreaking end. The Russian names here start to blur into obscurity. But the best parts of the book are when Massie handles the royal family--the tsar, his wife, and their children--and their daily lives. The portrait of Rasputin in particular is electrifying--what a strange, unearthly man! Massie binds up the story of the last Romanovs with common themes including, sadly, the effect of hemophilia on the heir--a boy who died at thirteen--and consequently on the history of an entire nation. For bone-deep adherents to democracy, it is startling how effective Massie is at making you sympathize with an absolute monarch and his family.
informative
slow-paced
Super interesting, though at times a bit repetitive.
Given that the book was written in 1967, it would be interesting to see what new information has come to light since the fall of Communism.
All in all, definitely worth reading!
Given that the book was written in 1967, it would be interesting to see what new information has come to light since the fall of Communism.
All in all, definitely worth reading!
tl;dr Another tremendous work of history by Robert Massie. Read in combination with Peter The Great and Catherine The Great, one feels as though he has a grasp on Russia in the building up to the Bolshevik revolution.
In this book, Massie outlines a sequence of events that ultimately led to the rise of Communism in Russia. In short, Empress Alexandra possessed a recessive trait which bequeathed her son, the heir, with the condition hemophilia. Seeking solutions for his agony, Alexandra turns to the peasant and soothsayer Rasputin, who insists that she resist the retreat into a constitutional monarchy at a key moment of change in Russian history. This inflexibility ultimately leads to revolution and their untimely deaths.
Of course, when I lay it out so nakedly like that, I'm not doing Massie's work -- or indeed the historic figures themselves -- justice. And the characters in this work of non-fiction are of the kind that you simply couldn't make up if you tried.
Nicholas II is a quiet, decent man. He's deeply committed to his native Russia, but he lacks the vigor and determination needed of an autocrat, particularly in this time of special trial for his country.
Alexandra comes across as a neurotic, feckless worrier. The illness of the young tsarevich turned her already weak character and warped it. As Massie sketches her, she represents all that is wrong with motherhood: the endless stress, the utter contempt for reason and logic, the insistence on bearing others' pain.
And of course Rasputin! The peasant priest figure is equal parts monk and Charles Manson. He assuages Alexandra's fears with prayer, while also apparently trying to sleep with any woman within a five mile radius. Russian elites bristle that this unwashed peasant has the ear of the monarchy, and rumors that he is sleeping with the empress abound. But the man also advocates for peace, and seems to be the only figure trying to keep the leaders of the country focused on the fact that the peasants don't have any food to eat.
The characters here are abundantly complex, and their ambiguities are only further heightened through the cloud of history. I don't have much of a capacity to judge Massie's scholarship, but even for a book written in 1967, it seems as though he treats the subject with an even hand.
There had to be a temptation at that time to make more of the human tragedy of the death of the Romanovs than was strictly necessary. But Massie kept a pretty even keel.
If there was anything this book was missing, it was about the rise of the Soviets. He explores Lenin's early career at a certain point, but I never felt like I had the total picture of how communism came about. Case in point: Stalin just shows up at some point with no background. Obviously, he's not as important a figure in the Romanov killings as Lenin or Trotsky, but you can't gloss over a figure of that importance.
Now I just wish Massie had done a Russian history of the 20th century, so I could catch up to the days of Putin.
In this book, Massie outlines a sequence of events that ultimately led to the rise of Communism in Russia. In short, Empress Alexandra possessed a recessive trait which bequeathed her son, the heir, with the condition hemophilia. Seeking solutions for his agony, Alexandra turns to the peasant and soothsayer Rasputin, who insists that she resist the retreat into a constitutional monarchy at a key moment of change in Russian history. This inflexibility ultimately leads to revolution and their untimely deaths.
Of course, when I lay it out so nakedly like that, I'm not doing Massie's work -- or indeed the historic figures themselves -- justice. And the characters in this work of non-fiction are of the kind that you simply couldn't make up if you tried.
Nicholas II is a quiet, decent man. He's deeply committed to his native Russia, but he lacks the vigor and determination needed of an autocrat, particularly in this time of special trial for his country.
Alexandra comes across as a neurotic, feckless worrier. The illness of the young tsarevich turned her already weak character and warped it. As Massie sketches her, she represents all that is wrong with motherhood: the endless stress, the utter contempt for reason and logic, the insistence on bearing others' pain.
And of course Rasputin! The peasant priest figure is equal parts monk and Charles Manson. He assuages Alexandra's fears with prayer, while also apparently trying to sleep with any woman within a five mile radius. Russian elites bristle that this unwashed peasant has the ear of the monarchy, and rumors that he is sleeping with the empress abound. But the man also advocates for peace, and seems to be the only figure trying to keep the leaders of the country focused on the fact that the peasants don't have any food to eat.
The characters here are abundantly complex, and their ambiguities are only further heightened through the cloud of history. I don't have much of a capacity to judge Massie's scholarship, but even for a book written in 1967, it seems as though he treats the subject with an even hand.
There had to be a temptation at that time to make more of the human tragedy of the death of the Romanovs than was strictly necessary. But Massie kept a pretty even keel.
If there was anything this book was missing, it was about the rise of the Soviets. He explores Lenin's early career at a certain point, but I never felt like I had the total picture of how communism came about. Case in point: Stalin just shows up at some point with no background. Obviously, he's not as important a figure in the Romanov killings as Lenin or Trotsky, but you can't gloss over a figure of that importance.
Now I just wish Massie had done a Russian history of the 20th century, so I could catch up to the days of Putin.
dark
informative
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
The best "textbook" I have ever read! I took "Russian History" in high school and this was the choice of reading required by the class. Easy to read for the uninterested party. Intriguing. Well written.
I really loved this book! I don't know if maybe it was because I didn't know absolutely anything about Nicholas and Alexandra that made this book so interesting for me. I really liked how the book was put together. I got a wealth of information, but it was enjoyable to read throughout. No boring stretches! Congratulations on a great book.
