Nicholas and Alexandra

Nicholas and Alexandra were the last of the Romanovs, remembered by us today chiefly as the parents who with their four daughters and son were murdered by the Bolsheviks.

The times were not propitious when Nicholas came to power. It is doubtful Nicholas could have survived the times, even with luck, but fate seemed against him. His son's hemophilia was a great burden; worse was Rasputin, an unprincipled Siberian mystic. On top of it all came the great war in 1914. When Russian armies suffered staggering defeats, the whole structure began to crumble.

"Massie gives the tantalizing what-ifs of history a full airing in this satisfying follow-up to PETER THE GREAT, another acknowledged master-work." (Journal of Literary Reviews)