Romanovs and Russian History


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Interesting Books about the Romanovs and Russian History

Hello everyone,

I'm interested in learning about the books that you've enjoyed concerning Russian history.

I am reading Romanov Autumn which is very interesting. It has lots of short chapters about different Romanovs and their palaces.

Imperial Dancer was also a lovely book about the ballerina, Kschessinska, who was Tsar Nicholas II's mistress. I am also interested in reading Little Mother of Russia and Once a Grand Duchess.

Best Regards,
Attaining Grace
Lisa-Anne Sanderson Writer and Editor - Writing and editing by experienced freelancer
bookaddiction
EdwardianPromenade
 
Well, if you haven't read it yet, Nicholas and Alexandra is one of my favorite books of all time. It's very informative and an easy read. It really gets into their personalities. I will say that if you are more interested in the daughters or any other Romanov, this may not be your best bet. It has the daughter's personalities, but the "main" characters are, of course, Nicholas and Alexandra, Alexei, and Rasputin. Of course, it does have much about their family as a whole. But all in all, it's a worthwhile read. It's a big book, so be prepared! It has some pictures, but in my copy they were a bit grainy, since the book was written in the 1960's.

I also liked the book Tsar: The Lost World of Nicholas and Alexandra. It has TONS of pictures, and it really gets into their everyday lives.

You can normally find these at any larger bookseller, or order online.
 
When I was an undergrad I took several Russian history classes and there are several books that I highly recommend:

Russia and the Russians: A History by Geoffrey Hosking

Major Problems in the History of Imperial Russia edited by James Cracraft

Village Life in the Late Tsarist Russia by Olga Semyonova Tian-Shanskaia

A History of Russia Vol. 1: To 1917 by Walter Moss

A History of Russia to 1855 by Nicholas V. Riasanovsky

The Russian Chronicles: A Thousand Years That Changed the World Edited by Orland Figes an Lindsey Hughs

Life on the Russian Country Estate: A Social and Cultural History By Priscilla Roosevelt

Reinterpreting Russian History: Readings, 860-1860s by Daniel Kaiser and Gary Marker

Peter the Great By Robert K. Massie

*A couple of more recommendations (since Byzantium is now apart of this topic...)

The Emperor Romanus Lecapenus and his Reign: A Study of Tenth-Century Byzantium by Steven Runciman

History of the Byzantine State by Georgije Ostrogorski

None of these books are considered "light" reading. So if you're used to reading 400 pgs + a book then you should be fine.

:)
 
Books about the Romanovs

Nicholas & Alexandra: The story of the love that ended and empire. Robert Massie
The Romanovs: The Final Chapter. Robert Massie
A Lifelong Passion Nicholas & Alexandra, Their Own Story. Andrei Maylunas & Sergei Mironenko
Romanov Autumn. Charlotte Zeepvat
The Flight of the Romanovs, John Curtis Perry & Constantine Pleshakov
The Fall of the Romanovs, Mark D. Steinberg & Vladimir M
Khrustalev
"The Lost Fortune of the Tsars" - By William Clarke
The Last Tsar: The Life and Death of Nicholas II" - By Edvard Radzinsky
The House Of Special Purpose: An Intimate Portrait of the Last Days of the Russian Imperial Family Compiled from the Papers of their English Tutor, Charles Sydney Gibbes, and written by J.C. Trewin.
The House Of Special Purpose: An Intimate Portrait of the Last Days of the Russian Imperial Family
Compiled from the Papers of their English Tutor, Charles Sydney Gibbes, and written by J.C. Trewin.
"The Last Act of a Tragedy" Veniamin Vasil§evich Alekseev

These are all non-fiction and deal only with Nicholas & Alexandra. There are also some very good books about other Russian rulers and history.
Lexi
 
There is a book called "An Englishman in the Court of the Tsar: The Spiritual Journey of Charles Sydney Gibbes" by Christine Benagh. It is published by Conciliar Press, which is an Orthodox publisher. It is a pretty interesting read and has quite a lot of information on TAOTMAA, since he was a tutor to Alexei. As far as the children are concerned, it has more info on Alexei and Anastasia than the other two since he spent more time with them. It also discusses the time in exile and what happened to him after the execution of TAOTMAA and how he ended up becoming Orthodox and becoming a priestmonk and returning to England.

I know that it can be obtained from www.amazon.com or www.conciliarpress.com
 
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Warren said:
Sydney Morning Herald 17 March 2007

Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr
by Christopher Warwick
John Wiley, 352pp.

"If you are beguiled by royals. this is the book for you, It tells the story of Queen Victoria's granddaughter Ella, more precisely Grand Duchess Elisabeth Feodorovna of Russia...
A person of deep spirituality, she was a kind of Russian Mother Teresa. Incorrectly suspected of German sympathies during the War, she was cruelly murdered by the Bolsheviks in July 1918."
Click to expand...

I'm hoping to read this one sometime. I haven't got the money to buy it yet. I know one of the women in my parish has it because the Grand Duchess is her patron saint. She truly was a Russian Mother Teresa from what I have read.
 
What does everyone think of the new Helen Rappaport book about the Romanovs? I am going to read it soon. Some of my favorite books about the Romanovs are the Catherine the Great by Virginia Roundling book, Nicholas and Alexandra by Massie, The Last Tsar by Radzinsky, the Peter Kurth picture book ( The world of the Last Tsar, I believe) and Greg King's biography of Empress Alexandra, and the Marie Fedorovna bio by Coryne Hall. I also like the Victoria Melita biography, A Fatal Passion, alot. I didn't think much of Romanov Autumn, but the Romanovs LPT is a good book. I'm a big fan of the biography of Olga A by Ian Vorres. I also like Fate of the Romanovs by Greg King and Penny Wilson. My favorite book about the Romanovs will always be Radzinsky though.
 
Hello! What do you think that is the best album about Romanov Family? I have read that the album by Michael of Greece is very well, but it's very expensive....

Regards and thanks!
 
Yes the Michael of Greece one is great, I'd say it's the best. The Romanovs Love, Power, and Tragedy is also very good, although a little more expensive too.
 
katherine2001 said:
I'm hoping to read this one sometime. I haven't got the money to buy it yet. I know one of the women in my parish has it because the Grand Duchess is her patron saint. She truly was a Russian Mother Teresa from what I have read.
Click to expand...
I finally finished this one (Ella: Princess, Saint and Martyr by Christopher Warwick) took me a year as I have been busy, busy, busy! But an excellent book. Very fair and balanced. If he doesn't know anything, he comes out and says so and I like that.
 
:previous:
That's a great book, Russophile. I've read it some time ago and enjoyed it very much.
And similarly, one of the most appealing aspects of the book was that the author wasn't making anything up but rather admitted lack of information.
 
Marsel said:
:previous:
That's a great book, Russophile. I've read it some time ago and enjoyed it very much.
And similarly, one of the most appealing aspects of the book was that the author wasn't making anything up but rather admitted lack of information.
Click to expand...
Indeed! I found it amazing that there could be so many different tales on the executions of the Imperial Family members. One wonders if we will ever know the truth.
 
Russophile said:
Indeed! I found it amazing that there could be so many different tales on the executions of the Imperial Family members. One wonders if we will ever know the truth.
Click to expand...

I doubt we will ever know the complete truth, however as to the general picture, it is more or less clear.

Some weeks ago there was a program about Emperor Nicholas II that indicated further details about the fate of the Imperial Family may emerge after 2018, when some documents are declassified. Unfortunately, I was not too attentive and didn’t quite understand what documents were implied, although I assume they concern the Bolsheviks and the orders that were given by them to immediate executors.
 
I know this is not relevant to the book but I'll throw in an aside...
My guess is that while Lenin remains in his waxed entombed state beside the Kremlin wall the Russian government will not be releasing any documents which connect him directly with the order to murder either the immediate Imperial Family or as many members of the extended Imperial Family the Bolsheviks could get their hands on.
 
:previous:
Lenin is a symbol of a bygone era: his 'mausoleum' is just a tourist attraction, nothing more. I assure you that most of the Russians (with the possible exception of those who belong to the Communist party) don't really care whether his remains are in Kremlin or not.

I do believe more details will be released in near future, if only to show (or pretend) that the Governemt is sorry for the actions of the Bolshevik party.
 
I am pretty sure the documents to be released are nothing to compare to the really important ones. The government (of any country) is not interested to provide information about the real situation even of the past. It is all proclamation.
It has nothing to do even with Lenin, in my opinion. The man even if he was evely cruel to russians has to be burried and rest in peace.
 
Lenin, Romanov books

I agree that Lenin has to be buried but whether he is resting in peace or should be resting in peace is another matter!

What do people think about 'The Fate of the Romanovs'? It looks a bit gruesome.
 
attaininggrace said:
I agree that Lenin has to be buried but whether he is resting in peace or should be resting in peace is another matter!

What do people think about 'The Fate of the Romanovs'? It looks a bit gruesome.
Click to expand...

The book? Which I still haven't finished but so far is very good. Or their physical fate which, imo, was a needless slaughter of innocents?
 
I think she was talking about the book. Some people think it gets a bit gruesome when it gets to the execution part. I don't think so personally. It's just more detailed than others.
 
Grace Angel said:
I think she was talking about the book. Some people think it gets a bit gruesome when it gets to the execution part. I don't think so personally. It's just more detailed than others.
Click to expand...
Murder is never a lovely subject to describe. The authors wanted to be as authentic as possible and did their research well.
They used to have a forum (King and Wilson) I posted on but it has been shut down. Pity. ..
 
FOTR certainly stirred up some controversy with the way the book talks about Marie N and the guard incident, and also what happened to OTMA on the Russ, or what might have happened with guards when they were on the Russ. Sometimes it is a bit speculative at these parts, other than that it's a good book.
 
I have to admit, the book failed to impress me.
It was probably well-researched and interesting enough, however the author's style of writing didn't agree with me.
 
I think the authors did try too hard to be controversial when they mentioned the guard and Marie incident and then the Russ incident, and I think in general they were writing the book to sound controversial in some aspects, but I did learn a lot from the book.
 
I think it's just one of the author's opinions ( how he sees it), concerning The Russian history and The Romanovs' family as well.
 
I agree. I didn't agree with some of their conclusions with regards to the stuff I mentioned, I guess.
 
Which conclusions were those, Grace?
 
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