Product Description

Abundant, newly discovered sources shatter long-held beliefs

The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 revealed, among many other things, a hidden wealth of archival documents relating to the imprisonment and eventual murder of Tsar Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra, and their children. Emanating from sources both within and close to the Imperial Family as well as from their captors and executioners, these often-controversial materials have enabled a new and comprehensive examination of one the pivotal events of the twentieth century and the many controversies that surround it.

Based on a careful analysis of more than 500 of these previously unpublished documents, along with numerous newly discovered photos, The Fate of the Romanovs makes compelling revisions to many long-held beliefs about the Romanovs' final months and moments. This powerful account includes:
* Surprising evidence that Anastasia may, indeed, have survived
* Diary entries made by Nicholas and Alexandra during their captivity
* Revelations of how the Romanovs were betrayed by trusted servants
* A reconstruction of daily life among the prisoners at Ipatiev House
* Strong evidence that the Romanovs were not brutalized by their captors
* Statements from admitted participants in the murders

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #190388 in Books
• Published on: 2003-09-12
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 672 pages

From Publishers Weekly
The family members of Nicholas II, Russia's last tsar, were executed in July 1918, soon after the Bolshevik Revolution-and the speculation as to what exactly happened hasn't died out during the past 85 years. In this comprehensive volume of one of history's great intrigues, independent scholars King and Wilson stoke the flames of controversy with a creative theory: Lenin and the other Bolshevik rulers in Moscow didn't give the orders to kill the tsar's family, as has been believed. This wasn't out of any sympathy for Nicholas and his family-in fact, the authors point out that Lenin was perhaps the epitome of realpolitik, allowing little emotion in his political decisions. Using an intriguing reading of the Russian archives, the authors argue that Lenin preferred a trial to an execution for fear of antagonizing the Germans, whom he wanted to appease in order to consolidate his own grip on power. Instead, it was local Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, where the royal family was held, who made the decision to go ahead and execute Nicholas and his family. The executions were blamed on Lenin because it served as a convenient myth for those lamenting the fall of the Romanov dynasty. While the book is somewhat longer than necessary, those fascinated with the case will find it worthwhile.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Perhaps no twentieth-century event has been as shrouded in enduring mystery and speculation as the massacre of Czar Nicholas and his family in Ekaterinburg, Siberia, in 1917. This riveting political and personal drama has been the subject of countless books, movies, documentaries, musical compositions, and Internet Web sites. The almost cultlike devotion to the Romanov legend and legacy has been fueled by the fact that the entire imperial family--including innocent children--were summarily executed by a regime purporting to usher in a new era of equality and morality. In an attempt to separate historical fact from sentimental fantasy, King and Wilson have taken advantage of the glut of documentation made available by the collapse of the Soviet Union, fashioning a comprehensive reexamination of the 78 days of the Ekaterinburg captivity, the murders themselves, and the 1991 exhumation of the bodies. Utilizing fresh information and cobbling together an abundance of primary and secondary source material, the authors engage in a complex game of historical detection that ultimately results in a controversial new perspective on an old but ever-captivating topic. Margaret Flanagan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review
The family members of Nicholas II, Russia's last tsar, were executed in July 1918, soon after the Bolshevik Revolution -and the speculation as to what exactly happened hasn't died out during the past 85 years. In this comprehensive volume of one of his tory's great intrigues, independent scholars King and Wilson stoke the flames of controversy with a creative theory: Lenin and the other Bolshevik rulers in Moscow didn't give the orders to kill the tsar's family, as has been believed. This wasn't out of any sympathy for Nicholas and his family-in fact, the authors point out that Lenin was perhaps the epitome of realpolitik, allowing little emotion in his political decisions. Using an intriguing reading of the Russian archives, the authors argue that Lenin preferred a trial to an execution for fear of antagonizing the Germans, whom he wanted to appease in order to consolidate his own grip on power. Instead, it was local Bolsheviks in Ekaterinburg, where the royal family was held, who made the decision to go ahead and execute Nicholas and his family. The executions were blamed on Lenin because it served as a convenient myth for those lamenting the f all of the Romanov dynasty. While the book is somewhat longer than necessary, those fascinated with the case will find it worthwhile. (Sept.) (Publishers Weekly, July 28, 2003)

King (The Man Who Killed Rssputin) and Wilson, a historian specializing in Russia's late imperial era have written a graphic compelling reconstruction of the fate of the last tsar and his family and a detailed account of the case's developments in 1989-2001. Rather than blame the murders directly on Lenin, King and Wilson devote half of their account to proving that the Ural Regional Soviet decided on its own to murder the family, informing Lenin and the Presidium days later. The book's second half examines the wildly contentious "discovery" and identification of the royal bones in 1989, even though the Soviet government knew where the mass grave was all along. The disastrous exhumations made identification of the 11 sets of bones nearly impossible-a problem that was compounded when American forensics experts looked into the matter and failed to find the bones of two of the children. This account of the Romanovs' last days is far more graphic than Mark Steinberg and Vladimir M. Khrustalev's The Fall of the Romonovs, but Chapter 21 drops an unexploded bomb: "The evidence, as it now stands, does not support any such conclusions about the possible deaths of either Grand Duchess Anastasia or Tsarevich Alexi.... (I)t is at least possible that one or more of the victims remain alive." This opinion is supported only by the lack of physical evidence and seems to run counter to the authors' description of the murder scene earlier in the book. However, the exhaustive documentation and notes and readable style make this book necessary for academic and public libraries. - Harry Willems, Southeast Kansas Lib., Iola (Library Journal, September 15, 2003)

"...I was pleasantly surprised: this complex, fascinating work based on new archives...compellingly revisionist..." (Daily Mail, 16 November 2003)

"...The Fate of The Romanovs is both encyclopaedic and compelling..." (Evening Standard, 17 November 2003)

"...the resulting book is a masterpiece of historical research..." (The Good Book Guide, January 2004)

"...the two authors have turned their investigations into a murder-mystery tale..." (South Wales Argus, 27 December 2003)

"...makes for fascinating reading...an erudite retelling of a story that refuses to die..." (Fortean Times, January 2004)

"A startlingly revisionist history of the last months of the Imperial family that compellingly destroys the tired old romantic cliches and recreates the Tsar and the commissars as real characters." (The Financial Times)

"...a startlingly revisionist history of the last months of the Imperial family that compellingly destroys the tired old romantic clichés..." (Financial Times Magazine, 20 December 2003)

"...The cold eye of reason combs through the evidence delivering astonishing details about the demise of the Romanovs..." (Good Book Guide, March 2004)

Customer Reviews

The Fate of The Romanovs is Russian History at its best!
"The Fate of the Romanovs" by British historians Greg Wilson and Penny Wilson looks at the life and tragic death of Nicholas II and his doomed family who died in a hail of Bolshevik bullets on July 17, 1918.
The book is long and very detailed in its depiction of what happened to the eighteenth and last Tsar. Nicholas began his reign in 1894. He was a good father and husband but a terrible ruler of the vast land he ruled!
Nicholas was a virulent anti-semite, persecuted Jews and minorities, cruely sought to stifle dissent and lived in a fabulously wealthy cocoon
supported by the reaction Russian Orthodox Church and the Tsarist army.
Nicholas was a uxorious mate to his formidable Darmstadt born wife Queen Alexandra. She was disliked by the public and aristocrats at court for her haughty and unfriendly behavior. Alexandra was deeply religious although her support of the starets Rasputin was deplored by the Russian people.
Nicholas and Alexandra were the parents of five children: Olga, Tatiana, Marie, Anastasia and the tsarevich Alexis who was a hemophiliac.
The family were taken prisoner by the provisional government of Kerensky in the spring of 1917 following the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk with Germany. The Romanovs who had ruled Russian for 300 years were taken into captivity at their home Tsarkoye Selo. Later they would be moved under guard to the Siberian city of Tobolsk and their final destination of Ekaterinburg in the Ural Mountains. The Bolsheviks were now their captors. Ekaterinburg was under attack by the White Russian army and the Czechs as the Russian Civil War was in full force. Lenin did not favor the execution of Nicholas unless he were tried in a public trial before the nation.
It was the Ural Soviet Council that wanted Nicholas and his family to die before their city was taken by the Whites/Czechs. And so on the night of July 17, 1918 the Romanovs were forced to enter the cellar of the Ipatiev home where they were being held prisoner. Here they were shot to death and bayoneted by a squad of 10 men led by Yurovsky. Their bodies were first put the Four Brothers Mine nine miles outside the city deep in the forest. This was proved to be unacceptable and they were then buried in a mass grave in a forest meadow.
This story takes 300 pages to tell. It was, to this reviewer, the most interesting part of the book. The second half deals with inept attempts by the Soviet government to invesigate the scene of the crime, exhume the bones and make a report on their findings. We also learn of the controversy in the Russian Orthodox Church on granting the Romanovs sainthood. The Romanovs were buried in the Fortress of St. Peter and St. Paul in St. Petersburg on July 17, 1998 in a controversial funeral pitting political & religous forces against one another.
The major mystery remains the whereabouts of the bodies of Anastasia and her brother Alexis. Their bodies were never found in a mystery which will probably never be solved. King and Wilson inform us that the Romanovs have become the center of a cult glorifying past Russian glory.
As one who is not privy to all the controversies in this Royal murder mystery this is still an excellent book for the history buff or general reader. The account of the brutal and horrific murders will shock and sadden you. I recommend this book as a worthy addition to your shelf on Russia and her leaders.

An exciting read
For anyone with an historical interest in the last Tsar this book is a must read. The historical analysis is well done and up to date (excepting the recent find of Alexei and Maria's grave sites). The work is well documented with footnotes and sources, but at the same time it is thoroughly enjoyable to read. Although there are some different approaches to the Romanov tragedy, I did not find it so "revisionist" as it proclaims, except perhaps to put a more human side to the captors of the family and the somewhat lack of responsibilty Lenin had for the murders. It stays on my library shelves as a great reference to the events described and explained.

Disappointing
Very well but selectively researched. I was disappointed by the obvious sympathies to a group of people that comitted the most henous act of genocide in history.

Over bloated and irrelevant in places. Don't bother.