#edvard radzinsky

[poniatowskaja]

What.  Source: Jamie H. Cockfield, White Crow: the life and times of the Grand Duke Nicholas Mikhailovich Romanov, 1859-1919 (pp. 278-279)

[umdesassossego]

"I have known many who after the revolution, after many many years have passed, reveled in how they sent White officers off to be shot. An entire generation happily went to the grave with this brutality in their souls. (...) For the West to understand us and for us to understand ourselves we have to remember that the murder of the tsar's family did not seem strange at the time because it wasn't terrible, it was ordinary."

Viktor A. Blokhin quoted by Edvard Radzinsky in "The Last Tsar"

[umdesassossego]

"The tsars founded Russia, and the harshest and cruelest were the best. Without Ivan the Terrible, without Peter the Great, without Nicholas I, there would be no Russia. The Russian people are the most submissive of all when they are sternly mastered, but they are incapable of rulling themselves. No sooner is the bridle loosened than they lapse into anarchy; they need a master, an unlimited master; they walk a straight path when they feel an iron fist over their head (...). The knout, we owe it to the Tatars, and it is the best thing they left us."

Monologue of a Russian monarchist quoted by French Ambassador in Petrograd, Maurice Paléologue, on the eve of the Revolution (in: Edvard Radzinsky's biography of Nicholas Il)

[malygina]

Хорошо бы все люди лет на пять замолчали. Вот тогда у всех-всех слов появился бы снова большой смысл.

[ahsanbuttbooks-blog]

Urdu translation of Edvard Radzinsky's The Rasputin File, translated by Muhammad Ahsan Butt.

[andrewreadsandwrites]

The Last Tsar The Life And Death of Nicholas II by Edvard Radzinsky

            The Last Tsar The Life And Death Of Nicholas II by Edvard Radzinsky is a comprehensive look at the last Russia Tsar Nicholas Romanov II. Radzinsky uses mountains of firsthand accounts including the diaries and letters of Nicholas, his wife Alexandra, their advisors, servants, families, enemies, and murderers. Large parts of this book are excerpts from these intimate sources, some of which have only become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union. When first hand documents and accounts are not available Radzinsky works with surviving relatives of witnesses, secondhand accounts, and various historical records.

            The Last Tsar focuses on history as it flowed through and around one man and his family, albeit a family of particular significance. Allowing the Romanovs to speaking through their own words provides an intimacy and humanity that can easily be lost when discussing historical figures, especially those who have entered into the cultural conscious in one form or another. Regardless of his acts of governance Nicholas was still a man. He loved his wife and children while at the same time was forced to make decisions and deal with situations that even the greatest of statesmen would have had trouble sailing through let alone thriving in.

            I do recommend that this work is not a perspective reader’s first visit into the history of Russia. There are countless historical references that will be lost on someone who is not already acquainted with the last decades of Imperial Russia and the first decades of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Even seasoned historians will probably need to check outside sources for clarification on some of the particulars, as this is a very detailed work.

            The Last Tsar is also admirable in its attention to the more mundane aspects of Nicholas’ life, like his daily routine. These day-to-day tasks are enlightening, not boring. It is also interesting to get a glimpse of what life was like for the Emperor of All the Russias when a major historical event was not transpiring. Even an emperor’s life has calmer ordinary days full of reading, hunting, meals, church services, and school lessons for the children.    

            It is also worth noting that the copy that I read was published in 1992. Since then DNA analysis has confirmed that the remains of all of the Romanovs have been found. When the book was published the gravesite had only recently been opened, so the author was only able to work with the data available at the time.        

            This book is an excellent look at the life and person of Nicholas II, and the circumstances that surrounded him, but it would be best in the hands of a reader who is already familiar with that era of history. I should also point out that in many ways this is a sad book. Nicholas and his family were murdered, and that fact becomes particularly painful after the reader has come closer to seeing them as people trap in reality, not historical footnotes. This is what The Last Tsar truly succeeds in, breaking through the veil of history to embrace the people that lived it.

[ekute-ile]

Book 4,2014 : 'Rasputin.The Last Word' by Edvard Radzinsky.

Now this has got to be one of the most detailed and well researched books I have ever read or come across. I have always been fascinated by the life and activities of Grigory Efimovich Rasputin and this book has provided all I need to know about one of the strangest men that ever existed. 

 A peasant who controlled and partly ruled almighty Russia through the tsar and tsarina with his special kind of Christianity. This book unravels all the secrets and antics of the so called man of God. Also exposing how the tsarina fell under his spell thereby sucking her husband,the tsar into his nest. 

 An amazing read. 

 Just google the name Rasputin. 

 Weltanschauung!

[ohsoromanov]

Mr.Radzinsky, I'm all ears.

I'm almost finishing this audiobook and I'm loving it.