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Douglas Smith

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http://www.douglassmith.info/

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Douglas Smith is an awarding-winning historian and translator and the author of four books on Russia. He studied German and Russian at the University of Vermont and has a doctorate in history from UCLA.

Over the past twenty-five years Smith has made many trips to Russia. In the 1980s, he was a Russian-speaking guide on the U. S. State Department’s exhibition “Information USA” that traveled throughout the USSR. He has worked as a Soviet affairs analyst at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty in Munich, Germany specializing in Russian nationalism and served as an interpreter for late President Reagan.

Smith has taught and lectured widely in the United States, Britain, and Europe and has appeared in documentaries for A&E and National Geographic. He ...more

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Douglas Smith’s books

Average rating: 3.98 · 4,099 ratings · 605 reviews · 6 distinct works • Similar authors

	Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs 3.91 avg rating — 2,061 ratings — published 2016 — 27 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy 4.08 avg rating — 1,801 ratings — published 2012 — 34 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Russian Job: The Forgotten Story of How America Saved the Soviet Union from Ruin 4.02 avg rating — 240 ratings — published 2019 — 16 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Pearl: A True Tale of Forbidden Love in Catherine the Great's Russia 3.70 avg rating — 86 ratings — published 2008 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Love and Conquest: Personal Correspondence of Catherine the Great and Prince Grigory Potemkin (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) by Douglas Smith, Catherine II 4.10 avg rating — 20 ratings — published 2004 — 3 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Working the Rough Stone: Freemasonry and Society in Eighteenth-Century Russia (NIU Series in Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies) 4.75 avg rating — 4 ratings — published 1999 — 4 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

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“To separate Rasputin from his mythology, I came to realize, was to completely misunderstand him. There is no Rasputin without the stories about Rasputin.”
― Douglas Smith, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

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“It pained Maria Fyodorovna to watch how her daughter-in-law dominated her son. Nicholas never once mentioned Rasputin in any of his letters to his mother. The subject for him was taboo. His mother wept: “My poor daughter-in-law does not perceive that she is ruining the dynasty and herself. She sincerely believes in the holiness of an adventurer, and we are powerless to ward off the misfortune, which is sure to come.” It was possible she was then recalling that upon her arrival in Russia from her homeland of Denmark in 1866, an old woman had foretold that her son would rule over Russia with great wealth and power, only to be cut down by “a moujik’s hand.”13”
― Douglas Smith, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

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“Ilya Kovylin, a Moscow merchant born in 1731 and one of the founders of the Old Believer sect of the Fedoseevtsy, taught his followers that “without sin there is no repentance, without repentance no salvation. There will be many sinners in heaven.” It was Kovylin who coined the famous (or infamous) phrase “If you don’t sin, you don’t repent, if you don’t repent, you can’t be saved.” This Kovylin is immensely important, for his words have mistakenly been attributed to Rasputin, as if he spoke them first, having himself created some new perversion, when in fact they have a much older tradition and represent an idea shared by various sectarian groups.”
― Douglas Smith, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

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Polls

Which book would you like to read for our March 15 - May 15 European Royalty group read?

Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell

18 votes, 42.9%

Courtesan by Diane Haeger

16 votes, 38.1%

Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy by Douglas Smith

8 votes, 19.0%

42 total votes

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Topics Mentioning This Author

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The Seasonal Read...: Fall Challenge 2013: Completed Tasks (DO NOT DELETE POSTS)	2481	642	Nov 30, 2013 09:01PM
The History Book ...: WE ARE OPEN ~ WEEK ONE ~THE DAY OF THE SCORPION~June 16 - June 22~PROLOGUE and BOOK ONE -(1-42) No Spoilers	56	46	Jul 06, 2014 11:10AM
Reading the 20th ...: Nicholas and Alexandra by Robert K. Massie (August/Sept 2018)	123	36	Sep 13, 2018 04:50AM
The History Book ...: * THE ROMANOVS	45	209	Jan 21, 2019 09:25AM
Bright Young Things: New Discoveries	872	322	Feb 06, 2019 04:45PM
The History Book ...: * INTRODUCTION -RUSSIA	72	386	Feb 10, 2019 03:30PM
A Million More Pages: Comic Book Spell-Out	143	167	Jun 04, 2019 10:48PM
Nothing But Readi...: A Sign of the Times Reading Challenge	33	393	Jun 21, 2019 10:09AM

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Douglas Smith’s Followers (123)

Douglas Smith

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