A review by bluestjuice
Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty by Robert K. Massie

3.0

This is a story to which everyone knows the end, but the fascination to be had is in the slow burn of building tensions that eventually leads to the ultimate conclusion, brick by damning brick. Russian history is not a great love of mine, so there was lots of fresh and interesting information to be had here, and although the book is fifty years or so in print at this point (meaning that there are at least a few new pieces of information that are not addressed), most of the history is pieced painstakingly together from journals and letters and other contemporary accounts, and remains illuminating. The author seemed to like the people he was studying - at least, he induced me to like them as well. Even their flaws seemed to be laid out with the gentle honesty of a friend. Maybe that isn't the most objective reading of Nicholas II's reign, but as someone without a great deal of background in the subject matter, I found it more reasonable than a heated diatribe against the couple.