Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs by Douglas Smith (Engli

Description: Rasputin by Douglas Smith On the centenary of the death of Rasputin comes a definitive biography that will dramatically change our understanding of this fascinating figure A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandras confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery and sinister political influence are the stuff of legend, and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty was laid at his feet. But as the prizewinning historian Douglas Smith shows, the true story of Rasputins life and death has remained shrouded in myth. A major new work that combines probing scholarship and powerful storytelling, Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the real life of one of historys most alluring figures. Drawing on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries, Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity--man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. Rasputin is not just a definitive biography of an extraordinary and legendary man but a fascinating portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe. FORMAT Paperback LANGUAGE English CONDITION Brand New Author Biography Douglas Smith is an award-winning historian and translator and the author of Former People, Rasputin, and other books on Russia. Before becoming a historian, he worked for the U. S. State Department in the Soviet Union and as a Russian affairs analyst for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich. He lives in Seattle with his wife and two children. Table of Contents CONTENTS List of Illustrations xiii Maps xxi Note on Dates and Spelling xxvi Introduction: The Holy Devil? 1 PART ONE: HOLY PILGRIM: 1869-1904 1. Origins 11 2. The Pilgrim 20 3. Nicholas and Alexandra 30 4. Monsieur Philippe 33 5. Alexei 46 6. The Burning Torch 50 7. The Mad Monk 60 PART TWO: OUR FRIEND: 1905-1909 8. To the Throne 65 9. Rasputin- Novy 71 10. Sects and Whips 82 11. Demons of the Silver Age 89 12. Anna Vyrubova 98 13. The Eyes 103 14. ". . . prayers that purify and protect us." 107 15. The Investigation: Part I 115 16. The First Test 130 17. "better ten Rasputins . . ." 141 PART THREE: SCANDALS: 1910-1911 18. Trouble in the Nursery 155 19. The Press Discovers Rasputin 168 20. In Search of Rasputin 177 21. Prince Yusupov 184 22. Holy Land 198 23. Rasputin in His Own Words 207 24. Iliodors Triumph 216 25. Two Murders 223 26. Confronting the "Antichrist" 228 PART FOUR: A TIME OF MIRACLES: 1912-July 1914 27. Germogens Fall 235 28. Iliodor, Apostate 243 29. Quousque tandem abutere patientia nostra? 253 30. The Blow to the Alcove 264 31. The Investigation II: Was Rasputin a Khlyst? 279 32. The Miracle at Spala 289 33. War and Celebration 301 34. Gutter Talk, Name-Glorifiers, and Murder Plots 308 35. On the Edge of a Precipice 323 36. The Attack 330 37. "This time it didnt work . . ." 341 38. Iliodors Flight 351 PART FIVE: WAR: JULY 1914-1915 39. A Menacing Cloud 359 40. The Incident at the Yar 370 41. Rasputins Women 381 42. Dinner with Rasputin 393 43. The Religious Faces of Rasputin 402 44. A Summer of Troubles 409 45. The Tovarpar 422 46. Nicholas Takes Command 428 47. Rasputin, Favorite 436 48. Fresh Scandal 444 49. The Troika 452 50. Gorokhovaya, 64 464 51. Dark Forces and Mad Chauffeurs 475 52. Another Miracle 486 PART SIX: THE FINAL YEAR: 1916 53. Revolution in the Air 491 54. The Minister Plots Murder 495 55. Iliodor in America 509 56. With Us or With Them 514 57. Rasputin the Spy? 526 58. Rasputin and the Jews 535 59. "The sun will shine . . ." 547 60. Apotheosis 553 61. Stupidity or Treason 561 62. "Vanya has arrived." 569 63. "My hour will soon strike." 578 64. The Last Day 586 65. A Cowardly Crime 590 66. The Investigation 597 67. The Body in the Water 602 68. The Romanov Family Drama 615 69. Orgies, Gay Love, and the Secret Hand of the British 624 70. The End of the Tobolsk Yoke 635 PART SEVEN: THE AFTERMATH: 1917-1918 71. A Time for Dominoes 643 72. Here Lies the Dog 650 73. The Myth 655 74. Unsettled Business 660 Epilogue 671 Acknowledgments 681 Bibliography 683 Notes 716 Index 789 Review "[The] definitive biography of this most mysterious and controversial figure . . . Under Smiths probing eye, archives yield up impressive detail and previously unknown accounts that place Rasputins life in a new, more realistic context." --Greg King, The Washington Post "[Douglas Smiths] scrupulous, insightful and thorough study will surely be the definitive account of one of the most controversial personalities of Russian (and European) history . . . Mr. Smiths research busts various Rasputin myths through a careful analysis of contemporary sources and a meticulous attention to the archives . . . All of this Mr. Smith presents lucidly, vividly and sympathetically . . . Rasputin is sharply drawn and unmistakable." --Edward Lucas, The Wall Street Journal "Douglas Smith has delivered the definitive biography [of Rasputin] that is brilliantly gripping, as hypnotic, wild and erotic in its revelations as the Mad Monk himself, sensitive in its human portrait, astute in its political analysis, superbly researched with rich new material gathered in faraway archives, and populated with the zaniest cast of the deranged Romanovs, depraved bishops, whores, mountebanks, adventuresses, mystics and murderers." --Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard (UK) "From the opening pages of his colossal biography of Grigory Rasputin, the historian Douglas Smith dismantles many of the myths enshrouding the monk who exerted inordinate influence over Nicholas II and Alexandra, emperor and empress of Russia, during the twilight of the Romanov dynasty a century ago . . . In Mr. Smiths telling, Rasputin was neither a sinner nor a saint, and very much a product of his time." --Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times "Magisterial . . . This balanced, impeccably researched book is a revelation, as richly detailed and engrossing as any novel." --Boris Dralyuk, Los Angeles Review of Books "Definitive." --Anne Applebaum, Harpers Magazine "Powerful . . . [Douglas Smith] scoured diaries, letters, police files and archives to create the definitive portrait of a man whose deeply held religious beliefs were often overshadowed by such debauchery and drunkenness that hes fixed in the popular imagination as the mad monk. It is a masterful display of storytelling." --Patricia Treble, Macleans (Canada) "Substantial, meticulously researched, and fluently written." --Rodric Braithwaite, The Observer (UK) "Superb and authoritative." --Donald Rayfield, Literary Review (UK) "[Rasputin] is by far the most comprehensive account of Rasputin to date, brimming with complexities and fascinating detail, and stands as an enlightening re-evaluation of this crucial figure in Russian history." --Helen Rappaport, The Telegraph (UK) "How much does the mythology misrepresent [Rasputin]? Was everything he did bad for Russia? These are the two central questions Douglas Smith sets out to answer in this astounding biography. And he succeeds, eschewing the gossip and innuendo that have long surrounded his subject to produce a well-rounded portrait of a complex individual." --J.P. OMalley, The Mail on Sunday (UK) "The definitive account of Grigory Rasputins life and times . . . Smith not only reinterprets the work of his predecessors but also provides a wealth of new information about Rasputin . . . Far from uncovering banal reality behind Rasputins supposed mystical talents, Smith instead explains how the mans forceful personality came to have such an impact on intelligent, learned people such as the Tsar and Tsarina . . . Smiths book reads like a revelatory work of revisionist history, unearthing a flesh-and-blood person from a centurys worth of lies and exaggerations." --Hank Stephenson, Shelf Awareness "Gripping . . . a fascinating, often entertaining biography." --Gerard DeGroot, The Times (Saturday Review) (UK) "Utterly fascinating and forensically detailed ... There are plenty of Rasputin biographies, but its superlative scholarship and attention to detail place this one in a class of its own." --Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times (UK) "[Smith] renders in great detail the ten years that Rasputin spent on the national stage, from 1906 until his murder in 1916. Sorting through the Rasputin mythology, Smith discards the apocryphal and weighs the plausible, balancing the extraordinary mix of mysticism and debauchery that made the peasant monk notorious. Digging through countless and often conflicting firsthand accounts and impressions, Smith gives Rasputins mystique a depth and a fine edge missing from prior histories." --Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs "In this monumental and soul-shaking biography, historian and translator Douglas Smith demystifies the figure of Grigory Rasputin . . . With a Dostoyevskian flair for noir and obsession, Smith exposes the base motivations behind Rasputins enemies . . . [and] expertly handles the intricacies of the salacious scandals that enveloped the empire in anti-Rasputin hysteria and that eerily presaged the fall of the Romanovs in 1917 . . . Smiths depravity-laden history of turn-of-the-20th-century Russia hinges on his insightful readings of myth and motive, and their tragic consequences." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[Smith] stuns with a scrupulously exhaustive biography of the monks role in the Russian empires fall and the rise of Bolshevism . . . His dedication to extricating Rasputins experience from newly available Soviet Union primary sources and international archives surpasses all previous academic works in breadth and scope . . . Smiths study will surely be considered the seminal scholarly work on Rasputin, an essential read for students of Imperial Russias downfall." --Jessica Bushore, Library Journal (starred review) "[An] amazingly detailed, deeply researched biography. [Douglas Smith] carefully lifts the myths away from the real story, which nevertheless is presented here as a greatly compelling picture of a figure who at the zenith of his influence was known all over Russia." --Booklist (starred review) "This brilliantly written, meticulously researched account of the life of Rasputin is the best, most complete and accurate I have ever read. Step by step, day by day, week by week, Douglas Smith tells the story from its humble beginnings, through its obscene sexual chapters, to its violent end. He describes how a peasant became our Friend to the last emperor and empress of Russia. He explains why this dependency came at a terrible cost for the imperial couple, for their children, for Russia, and for the twentieth-century world. Readers will begin by saying that this is an impossible story to believe. They will read on because, in Douglas Smiths mesmerizing telling, it must be believed. And because it did happen." --Robert K. Massie, author of Catherine the Great "In his research, comprehensive to the nth degree, Douglas Smith has dug up previously unseen archives, followed previously unexplored leads, and connected the dots across the Russian landscape. Theyre dots of blood. Rasputin reveals the true character of the man without minimizing his malign hold on the feckless Romanovs." --Ken Kalfus, author of The Commissariat of Enlightenment "It is hard to imagine a historical figure more barnacled with myth than Rasputin. Douglas Smith unravels Rasputins complex narrative in unprecedented detail, showing how he was a kind of chimera onto which could be hung all the ills of a disintegrating Russia. In the process, Smith vividly exposes the astonishing blindness of the ruling class that made its tragic end inevitable. A brilliant achievement." --Rosemary Sullivan, author of Stalins Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva "In his magisterial, exhaustively researched work on Rasputin, Douglas Smith paints a rich, detailed portrait of one of historys most fascinating individuals while also chronicling the dramatic last days of the tsar. Its a wondrous read." --Neal Bascomb, author of The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitlers Atomic Bomb "A big book about a big figure in the demise of tsarism. Douglas Smith supplies chapter and verse on the extraordinary life of Grigory Rasputin, the eminence grise behind the Romanov throne. Without denying the salacious and corrupt ways of the holy man, the book brilliantly and thoughtfully defends Rasputin against the worst of the myths that swirled around him. A tour de force." --Robert Service, author of The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991 and Lenin: A Biography "The most complete and masterful study of Rasputin that Ive read. Douglas Smiths work is not only extraordinarily readable, but rich in detail." --Robert Alexander, author of The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar "Some years ago, when working on a historical novel, I had to read all the existing Rasputin biographies--and they do abound, in all literary styles and in many languages. What a pity that Douglas Smiths Rasputin had not yet been published; it would have saved me a lot of time. If you are interested in the story of the Romanovs pet prophet, this is the book to read." --Boris Akunin, author of The Coronation "A prodigious piece of scholarship. Douglas Smiths exhaustive and forensic examination of a wealth of new and previously unseen evidence finally lays to rest the tired old myth of the mad monk and rightly positions Rasputin as a crucial figure in late Imperial Russian history." --Helen Rappaport, author of The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra Review Quote "[The] definitive biography of this most mysterious and controversial figure . . . Under Smiths probing eye, archives yield up impressive detail and previously unknown accounts that place Rasputins life in a new, more realistic context." --Greg King, The Washington Post "[Douglas Smiths] scrupulous, insightful and thorough study will surely be the definitive account of one of the most controversial personalities of Russian (and European) history . . . Mr. Smiths research busts various Rasputin myths through a careful analysis of contemporary sources and a meticulous attention to the archives . . . All of this Mr. Smith presents lucidly, vividly and sympathetically . . . Rasputin is sharply drawn and unmistakable." --Edward Lucas, The Wall Street Journal "Douglas Smith has delivered the definitive biography [of Rasputin] that is brilliantly gripping, as hypnotic, wild and erotic in its revelations as the Mad Monk himself, sensitive in its human portrait, astute in its political analysis, superbly researched with rich new material gathered in faraway archives, and populated with the zaniest cast of the deranged Romanovs, depraved bishops, whores, mountebanks, adventuresses, mystics and murderers." --Simon Sebag Montefiore, Evening Standard (UK) "From the opening pages of his colossal biography of Grigory Rasputin, the historian Douglas Smith dismantles many of the myths enshrouding the monk who exerted inordinate influence over Nicholas II and Alexandra, emperor and empress of Russia, during the twilight of the Romanov dynasty a century ago . . . In Mr. Smiths telling, Rasputin was neither a sinner nor a saint, and very much a product of his time." --Steven Lee Myers, The New York Times "Magisterial . . . This balanced, impeccably researched book is a revelation, as richly detailed and engrossing as any novel." --Boris Dralyuk, Los Angeles Review of Books "Definitive." --Anne Applebaum, Harpers Magazine "Powerful . . . [Douglas Smith] scoured diaries, letters, police files and archives to create the definitive portrait of a man whose deeply held religious beliefs were often overshadowed by such debauchery and drunkenness that hes fixed in the popular imagination as the mad monk. It is a masterful display of storytelling." --Patricia Treble, Macleans (Canada) "Substantial, meticulously researched, and fluently written." --Rodric Braithwaite, The Observer (UK) "Superb and authoritative." --Donald Rayfield, Literary Review (UK) "[Rasputin ] is by far the most comprehensive account of Rasputin to date, brimming with complexities and fascinating detail, and stands as an enlightening re-evaluation of this crucial figure in Russian history." --Helen Rappaport, The Telegraph (UK) "How much does the mythology misrepresent [Rasputin]? Was everything he did bad for Russia? These are the two central questions Douglas Smith sets out to answer in this astounding biography. And he succeeds, eschewing the gossip and innuendo that have long surrounded his subject to produce a well-rounded portrait of a complex individual." --J.P. OMalley, The Mail on Sunday (UK) "The definitive account of Grigory Rasputins life and times . . . Smith not only reinterprets the work of his predecessors but also provides a wealth of new information about Rasputin . . . Far from uncovering banal reality behind Rasputins supposed mystical talents, Smith instead explains how the mans forceful personality came to have such an impact on intelligent, learned people such as the Tsar and Tsarina . . . Smiths book reads like a revelatory work of revisionist history, unearthing a flesh-and-blood person from a centurys worth of lies and exaggerations." --Hank Stephenson, Shelf Awareness "Gripping . . . a fascinating, often entertaining biography." --Gerard DeGroot, The Times (Saturday Review) (UK) "Utterly fascinating and forensically detailed ... There are plenty of Rasputin biographies, but its superlative scholarship and attention to detail place this one in a class of its own." --Dominic Sandbrook, The Sunday Times (UK) "[Smith] renders in great detail the ten years that Rasputin spent on the national stage, from 1906 until his murder in 1916. Sorting through the Rasputin mythology, Smith discards the apocryphal and weighs the plausible, balancing the extraordinary mix of mysticism and debauchery that made the peasant monk notorious. Digging through countless and often conflicting firsthand accounts and impressions, Smith gives Rasputins mystique a depth and a fine edge missing from prior histories." --Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs "In this monumental and soul-shaking biography, historian and translator Douglas Smith demystifies the figure of Grigory Rasputin . . . With a Dostoyevskian flair for noir and obsession, Smith exposes the base motivations behind Rasputins enemies . . . [and] expertly handles the intricacies of the salacious scandals that enveloped the empire in anti-Rasputin hysteria and that eerily presaged the fall of the Romanovs in 1917 . . . Smiths depravity-laden history of turn-of-the-20th-century Russia hinges on his insightful readings of myth and motive, and their tragic consequences." --Publishers Weekly (starred review) "[Smith] stuns with a scrupulously exhaustive biography of the monks role in the Russian empires fall and the rise of Bolshevism . . . His dedication to extricating Rasputins experience from newly available Soviet Union primary sources and international archives surpasses all previous academic works in breadth and scope . . . Smiths study will surely be considered the seminal scholarly work on Rasputin, an essential read for students of Imperial Russias downfall." --Jessica Bushore,Library Journal (starred review) "[An] amazingly detailed, deeply researched biography. [Douglas Smith] carefully lifts the myths away from the real story, which nevertheless is presented here as a greatly compelling picture of a figure who at the zenith of his influence was known all over Russia." --Booklist (starred review) "This brilliantly written, meticulously researched account of the life of Rasputin is the best, most complete and accurate I have ever read. Step by step, day by day, week by week, Douglas Smith tells the story from its humble beginnings, through its obscene sexual chapters, to its violent end. He describes how a peasant became our Friend to the last emperor and empress of Russia. He explains why this dependency came at a terrible cost for the imperial couple, for their children, for Russia, and for the twentieth-century world. Readers will begin by saying that this is an impossible story to believe. They will read on because, in Douglas Smiths mesmerizing telling, it must be believed. And because it did happen." --Robert K. Massie, author of Catherine the Great "In his research, comprehensive to the nth degree, Douglas Smith has dug up previously unseen archives, followed previously unexplored leads, and connected the dots across the Russian landscape. Theyre dots of blood. Rasputin reveals the true character of the man without minimizing his malign hold on the feckless Romanovs." --Ken Kalfus, author of The Commissariat of Enlightenment "It is hard to imagine a historical figure more barnacled with myth than Rasputin. Douglas Smith unravels Rasputins complex narrative in unprecedented detail, showing how he was a kind of chimera onto which could be hung all the ills of a disintegrating Russia. In the process, Smith vividly exposes the astonishing blindness of the ruling class that made its tragic end inevitable. A brilliant achievement." --Rosemary Sullivan, author of Stalins Daughter: The Extraordinary and Tumultuous Life of Svetlana Alliluyeva "In his magisterial, exhaustively researched work on Rasputin, Douglas Smith paints a rich, detailed portrait of one of historys most fascinating individuals while also chronicling the dramatic last days of the tsar. Its a wondrous read." --Neal Bascomb, author of The Winter Fortress: The Epic Mission to Sabotage Hitlers Atomic Bomb "A big book about a big figure in the demise of tsarism. Douglas Smith supplies chapter and verse on the extraordinary life of Grigory Rasputin, the eminence grise behind the Romanov throne. Without denying the salacious and corrupt ways of the holy man, the book brilliantly and thoughtfully defends Rasputin against the worst of the myths that swirled around him. A tour de force." --Robert Service, author of The End of the Cold War: 1985-1991 and Lenin: A Biography "The most complete and masterful study of Rasputin that Ive read. Douglas Smiths work is not only extraordinarily readable, but rich in detail." --Robert Alexander, author of The Kitchen Boy: A Novel of the Last Tsar "Some years ago, when working on a historical novel, I had to read all the existing Rasputin biographies--and they do abound, in all literary styles and in many languages. What a pity that Douglas Smiths Rasputin had not yet been published; it would have saved me a lot of time. If you are interested in the story of the Romanovs pet prophet, this is the book to read." --Boris Akunin, author of The Coronation "A prodigious piece of scholarship. Douglas Smiths exhaustive and forensic examination of a wealth of new and previously unsee Details ISBN1250141265 Author Douglas Smith Short Title RASPUTIN Pages 880 Publisher Picador USA Language English ISBN-10 1250141265 ISBN-13 9781250141262 Format Paperback Year 2017 Publication Date 2017-11-07 Subtitle Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs Imprint Picador USA DEWEY 947.083092 Audience General UK Release Date 2017-11-07 Illustrations Illustrations We've got this At The Nile, if you're looking for it, we've got it. With fast shipping, low prices, friendly service and well over a million items - you're bound to find what you want, at a price you'll love! TheNile_Item_ID:137370048;

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