Rasputin: The Last Word

by Edvard Radzinsky, Judson Rosengrant (Translator)

Based upon long-lost contemporary documents, this biography presents a sensational account of the life of the Russian peasant mystic whose malign influence led to the downfall of the Romanovs.

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, Russia, Russian History, Historical, Biography Memoir

728 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2000

About the author

Radzinsky (Russian: Эдвард Радзинский) is an author of more than forty popular non-fiction books on historical subjects. Since the 1990s, he has written the series Mysteries of History. The books translated to English include his biographies of Tsars Nicholas II and Alexander II, Rasputin, and Joseph Stalin. His book Stalin: The First In-depth Biography Based on Explosive New Documents from Russia's Secret Archives discusses a number of well known controversies about Joseph Stalin, including the existence of a fuller text of Lenin's Testament, the alleged involvement of Stalin as an agent of the Tsarist secret police, and the role of Stalin in the death of his wife and the murder of Sergey Kirov. According to Radzinsky, Stalin was poisoned by order of Lavrentiy Beria. His book includes an interview with a former bodyguard of Stalin, who stated that on the night of Stalin's death, the bodyguards were relieved of duty by an NKVD officer named Khrustalev. This same officer was briefly mentioned in Memories, the memoir of Stalin's daughter Svetlana Alliluyeva. Radzinsky also supported the hypotesis by Viktor Suvorov that Stalin had prepared a preemptive strike against Nazi Germany

Reviews

[Mohamadreza Moshfeghi · Rating 3 out of 5]

كنابى جذاب وجالب براى دوست داران تاريخ وعلاقه مندان به تاريخ روسيه
سرزمينىى با حاكمانى ومردمانى شايد شبيه به ما در تاريخ
راسپوتين دهقانى كه هوسرانى و اميال جنسى خويش را اعتقاد وايمان به خدا مى ديد وبا استقاده از ضعف حاكمان وخود شخص تزار و خرافه وباورهاى پوچ دينى به كاخ ودربار روسيه ورود پيدا كرد
و همانجا بود كه سقوط سرعت بيشترى گرفت وبهانه اى شد براى پايان سيصد سال حكمرانى رومانوف ها.

•فدرت رو به زوال هميشه در محاصره آدم هاى مفلوك بوده است.
از متن كتاب

[Alam · Rating 5 out of 5]

کتاب تاریخی جالبیه اما در صحت و سقم مطالب کمی جای شک باقی میمونه چون بیشتر با استناد بر اعترافات دوستان و دشمنان راسپوتین در مقابل “کمیسیون فوق العاده” نوشته شده که خب ممکنه دروغ گفته باشن و یا تحریفاتی در خاطراتشون باشه اما یقیناً کلیت داستان درسته. لحن نسبتاً شوخ نویسنده و کوتاه بودن بخش های هر فصل، باعث شده داستان خسته کننده نباشه و تا انتها جذابیتش‌رو حفظ کنه

۱۴۰۲/۲/۵: حالا که جلد دوم‌رو هم خوندم کتاب به نظرم جذابتر هم رسیده، واقعا راسپوتین کی بود؟ چندتا عکس از راسپوتین در وسط کتاب چاپ شده که حتی با نگاه کردن به چشمان نافذش در این عکس‌های بی‌کیفیت و سیاه سفید مسخ میشی و نمیتونی ازش چشم برداری!
نتیجه‌گیری نویسنده که در انتهای کتاب نوشته شده خیلی به تصورات من از راسپوتین در حین خوندن کتاب نزدیک بود با این حال گاهی هم به شک میفتادم که نکنه واقعا “دوستشان” چیزی فراتر از یک انسان عادی بود؟! اما در کل فکر میکنم اگه خرافات و به تابعیت اون مسئله دین در سیاست وجود نداشت نه ملکه و تزار عقلشون‌رو میدادن دست راسپوتین، نه افرادی مثل لاختینا به خاطر شیادی که حتی خودش هم نمیدونست شیاده دیوونه و در به در صومعه‌ها میشدن، نه افرادی مثل آندرونیکف، سیمانوویچ و… میتونستن از این حجم از خرافات و حماقت سواستفاده کنن.
تو ریویو جلد یک نوشته بودم که صحت و سقم مطالب تایید شده نیس ولی الان فکر میکنم اصلا لازم نبود که تاییدشده باشه چون کتاب نمیخواد نظر قطعی خودش‌رو در مورد راسپوتین بگه بلکه نظرات موافق و مخالف‌رو میگه تا خواننده در مورد شخصیت عجیب راسپوتین تصمیم بگیره. امتیاز‌رو هم از ۴ به ۵ تغییر میدم.

[Fatemeh · Rating 5 out of 5]

اسم راسپوتین به قدری با افسانه و باور های مردمی گره خورده که به سختی میشه ،واقعیت رو از افسانه تشخیص داد، به همین خاطر پیدا کردن نویسنده و کتابی که بتونه از قید فرهنگ عامه خودش رو خلاص کنه تا حد زیادی سخته .
از زمانی که کمی به تاریخ روسیه قبل انقلاب بلوشویکی نگاه میکنی ،شاید بیشتر از اسم تزار ،لنین و…. اسم راسپوتین تکرار میشه ، به قدری که حتی راه خودشو تو کارتون های زمان بچگی و اهنگ ها باز میکنه ؛اما چرا ؟ چی چیزی این ادم رو اینقدر خاص و منحصر به فرد میکنه ؟

این کتاب به خوبی این موضوع رو روشن میکنه ،راسپوتین واقعا کی بود ؟دوستان و دشمنانش کی بودند ؟و مهم تر از همه چرا لایق اینهمه حرفی هست که تا سال ها پس از مرگش در موردش زده میشه .

در کتب تاریخی یکی از دلایلی که برای سرنگونی سلسه رومانوف ها بیان میشه ،راسپوتین عه ؛ قبل از خوندن این کتاب برام قابل باور نبود که چطور یک رعیت ساده که تازه به نظر میرسه دوست ملکه و تزار هم هست ،بتونه اینکار رو بکنه ، اما روسیه هم دچار همان کلیشه کتاب های تاریخ میشه ،نارضایتی مردم ،توطئه و دخالت درباریان و جنگ های خارجی باعث سرنگونی تزار میشن و سوخت دو مورد اول رو راسپوتین تمام و کمال تامین میکنه و ملکه و تزار هم کاملا پشتیبانیش میکنن .

یه نکته‌ی جالب درباره‌ی خود عنوان کتابه؛ واقعاً هم تا امروز کسی نتونسته تصویر واحدی از راسپوتین ارائه بده. بالاخره این آدم یه مرد مقدس بود یا یه شیاد زن‌باره؟ اما چیزی که جالبه اینه که همه ـ چه مخالفاش، چه طرفداراش ـ روی دو نکته توافق دارن:
۱. راسپوتین واقعاً می‌تونست جلوی خونریزی ولیعهد مبتلا به هموفیلی رو بگیره.
۲. راسپوتین واقعاً آدم فاسد و زن‌باره‌ای بوده.
هرکدوم از این دو مورد خودش یه دنیا حرف داره. حتی برای اون معجزه‌ اولی هم بعدها می‌شه توضیح منطقی آورد، ولی تو همون زمان هم، راسپوتین یه شخصیت دوگانه بوده: نیمه‌قدیس، نیمه‌ابلیس.

شخصیت های کتاب خیلی زیاد بودند اما به نظرم نویسنده چاره ی دیگری جز معرفی همه نداشت ،برهه حساسی از تاریخ بوده و شخصیتی به این مهمی مطمئنا افراد زیادی دور و برش هستند که به نحوی یا بر راسپوتین تاثیر گذاشتند و یا ازش تاثیر گرفتند .(لیست اسامی با شغل و توضیحات ،در اخر جلد دوم در به یاد اوردنشون کمک کننده است).

کتاب طولانی و پر از جزئیاته ،شاید در نگاه اول این جزئیات غیر ضروری باشند اما همین ریزه‌کاری ها باعث میشه راسپوتین رو به شکل عمیق تری بشناسیم و من واقعا از خوندن این کتاب نهایت لذت رو بردم .

در مورد این کتاب و راسپوتین خیلی حرف ها میشه زد ،اما اگر بخوام در یک جمله بحث رو ببندم ،کتابی بهتر از این ،با این دقت تاریخی و بیطرفی و مستندات کامل در موضوعی مثل راسپوتین که پر از سوگیری است ،پیدا نمیشه .

[Lisa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just a little over a year ago, I asked Santa to bring me some books on historical bastards. This was one of the treats that Santa (or rather, NikNak) responded with.

Prior to reading this, the only thing I really knew about Rasputin was that he was apparently Russia’s greatest love machine (thanks, Boney M). I now know that he was actually just Russia’s most persistent lech, but I also learnt a lot more (including the surprising revelation that this all happened so recently. Thanks to the ready acceptance of mystical bullshit on the part of the Royals, I’d thought this all took place in like, olden times.)

Born a peasant in a Russia that very much gave a shit about that sort of thing, Rasputin spent most of his youth apparently being drunk and violent, before a sudden change of heart led him to travel the country visiting holy places and like, finding himself, man. Instead of just getting a bit religious, he’d go the whole hog and soon make a name for himself through his ‘prophetic visions’ and performing of ‘miracles’. Which would bring him to the attention of a Royal Family already prone to religious gullibility and worried for the health of their young son and haemophiliac heir.

Having already been hypnotised by another chancer into thinking she was pregnant (who explained, come her humiliation come her time of confinement and realisation that she was as pregnant as I am, that the pregnancy had disappeared due to her lack of faith), the tsarina was soon eating out of Rasputin’s hand (not literally), claiming his enemies as her own and alienating everyone else around her. As the Royal Family became increasingly isolated by the rest of their own family, the court, the church and the government, Rasputin would be dogged by controversy. Especially once he reverted back to drinking.

Already prone to groping anyone he could get his hands on and visiting, sometimes in just one day, many, many prostitutes (apparently he could totally cleanse you of sin by having sex with you), he was also believed to be controlling the tsarina (although the tutor to the royal children had it right when they said, 'His prophetic words most often merely confirmed the hidden wishes of the empress herself. She herself did not suspect that she had induced them, that she was their 'inspirer'. Her personal wishes, passing through Rasputin, acquired in her eyes the force and authenticity of revelation.') But the belief of his influence, alongside his penchant for bragging about his connections and power whilst slaughtered, would apparently wind up the wrong people and he would eventually be murdered by two members of the Royal Family and a leading politician – a murder that would help build his legend, no doubt thanks to Prince Felix’s dramatic description of the murder which read like something out of a zombie novel (“…With an abrupt, furious movement, Rasputin sprang to his feet. He was foaming at the mouth. He was horrifying. The room resounded with a savage roar, and I saw the flash of his convulsively clenched fingers. Then, like red-hot iron, they sank into my shoulder and reached for my neck…”).

A big, thick book that I ripped through in a matter of days, I couldn’t put this down thanks to the incredible details of Rasputin’s life. Making a legend much more human (even if he was a very, um, complicated man), this was packed with astonishing, sometimes awful and sometimes hilarious facts (I don’t know why I find this so funny, but on being challenged on why he kept taking young ladies to bathhouses, he replied, 'The society misses were so puffed up with pride, and in order to deflate it, it was necessary to humiliate them by forcing them to go to the bathhouse with a dirty peasant.').

I could have filled this review with a million of my favourite excerpts, but you really ought to read them for yourself. Go on.

**Also posted at Randomly Reading and Ranting**

[Moshtagh hosein · Rating 3 out of 5]

خب حداقل از فیلم ها و داستان های مبتذل عامیانه ای که مردم در وصفش میگویند (گریگوری راسپوتین)بهتر بود.

[Nathan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Awful. Radzinsky's one strong point is his access to the titular file, which enables him to reveal information not found in other accounts of Rasputin and the Romanovs. But he is not a good enough writer to handle the information; this is a clunky, unbearably boring book, full of characters who don't do anything and events that don't portend anything and prose that barely means anything. I don't know if his choppy, fragmented style is the result of something lost in translation, but this was painful to read. Skip this, and try something by Robert K. Massie.

[Maryam · Rating 4 out of 5]

راسپوتین کسی بود که ملکه روسیه از آنچه او می گفت برای حکومت کردن بر تزار و روسیه استفاده می کرد
راسپوتین چنانچه از تاریخ می آید برای دوستانش شوم بود

[Mohammadreza · Rating 4 out of 5]

پایان جلد اول راسپوتین...

گریگوری ایفیمویچ راسپوتین دهقان راهب و بی سوادی بود که به دربار سطلنتی تزار نیکلای رومانوف دوم راه پیدا کرد. با توجه به اطلاعات موجود در کتاب :راسپوتین راهب مسیحی از فرقه ای به نام "خلیستی" بود که رسوایی های اخلاقی زیادی به بار آورد. راسپوتین با وجود اینکه کم سواد بود توانست نفوذ زیادی بر تزارینا بگذارد و این نفوذ "عجیب" و "تاثیر خاص" درست از روزی شروع شد که راسپوتین با قدرت "شفابخشی" که داشت بیماری هموفیلی الکسی رومانوف ,پسر نیکلای دوم" را مداوا کرد. البته در رابطه با شفابخشی به الکسی با توسل به قدرت های ماورایی و قدسی صد در صد تردید هایی وجود داشت. گفته شده مسئله شفا بخشی به الکسی از طریق "هیپنوتیزم" صورت گرفته. کاری که راسپوتین در انجام آن مهارت داشت. چشمان نافذ و گیرا. سفیدی بیش از حد چشم ها,دستان زمخت دهقانی,ریش پرپشت و زیاد و سادگی کلام راسپوتین همه و همه در تاثیر گذاری او بر افراد نقش عمده ای ایفا کرده اند.
راسپوتین مریدان زیادی داشت که زنان اکثریت را تشکیل می دادند. اعترافات تکان دهنده برخی از این مریدان نشانگر اخلاقیات فاسد و سوء استفاده جنسی از این زن ها به بهانه به جا آوردن آداب "خلیستی" در "پرونده" موجود است. اعترافاتی که بعد از انقلاب اکتبر بلشویک ها توسط کمیسیون فوق العاده در "پرونده" ثبت و ضبط" شده .

الکساندرا فیودوروونا :
الکساندرا(ملکه) که اعتقادات و باور های مذهبی و خرافی متعصبانه داشت,راسپوتین را به مثابه یک فرد فوق مقدس می شناخت و اعتقاد داشت که این مرد خدا "مسیح روی زمین " است. در نتیجه الکساندرا که آموخته بود چگونه ایمان خود را حفظ کند. کور کورانه شیفته راسپوتین شد و از او تبعیت می کرد. برای الکساندرا هیچگونه سند و مدرکی مبنی بر فساد اخلاقی و نفوذ راسپوتین و دخالت او در امور سیاسی کشور ,اعتبار نداشت و به سبب ایمان کورکورانه به راسپوتین ,دهقان را از خود دور نکرد,از دیدگاه تزارینا راسپوتین مردی بود که از جانب خدا آمده بود و حال که الکسی از صدقه سری راسپوتین از هموفیلی نجات یافته بود.چرا باید تهمت های درباریان,نشریات و مقامات حکومتی و شورای قدسی را در رابطه با راسپوتین باور می کرد؟

راسپوتین:
به این ترتیب دهقان مقدس,مستقیما بر ملکه تاثیر می گذاشت و ملکه بر نیکلای...
اداره کشور بدست یک دهقان بی سواد از دهکده پاکروفسکویه افتاده بود.یک مسیحی خلیستی که ادعا می کرد روح مقدس در او حلول کرده.

آیین خلیستی:
خلیستی ها به دهقانان روسی آموختند هر مردی می تواند"مسیح" شود و هر زنی می تواند " مادر خدا" بشود. در فرقه های خلیستی ,کف نفس یا امتناع از روابط جنسی زن و شوهری ,حین آیین "شعف" به گناهکاری گروهی" بدل می شد. که در واقع این "گناه کاری گروهی" عبارت بود از روابط عنان گسیخته میان اعضای دو جنس. طبق باور خلیستی ها ,حین همین"شعف" ها بود که روح القدس به درون آنها می آمد.و سپس اعضای فرقه باید می کوشیدند هرچه بیشتر حود را در غالب" مسیح ها" و " مادر خدا ها" ی تازه تصور بکنند و این تصویر هم در یک حالت جنون آمیز روحی و احساسی حاصل می شد, حالتی که مسبب آن پایکوبی دست جمعی خلیستی بود.

[Livewithbooks · Rating 3 out of 5]

راسپوتین! این مردک پر حاشیه! وقتی میگن چه چیزی نسخه خاندان رومانوف ها رو پیچید بی برو برگرد میگن راسپوتین! راسپوتین یه دهقان بی سواد و عیاش و شهوت پرست بوده که یهو میزنه به سرش و راه مسیح و در پیش میگیره و میشه مرد خدا! آوازه پیدا میکنه و قدرت شفا و پیش‌گویی نصیبش میشه و مسیرش میخوره به کاخ سلطنتی تزارها و ملکه که همیشه منتظر پیامبری بوده که در راه سلطنت بر این سرزمین پهناور که خدا مسئولیتش رو روی دوش ملکه و تزار گذاشته همراهی کنه شیفته این مرد خدا میشه تا اونجا که تمام عزل و نصب مردان سیاست و جنگ می افته دست راسپوتین این دهقان بی سواد و شهوت پرست و مذهبی. پیروان راسپوتین عموما زن ها بودند! زنانی که به دلیل کمبودهایی در زندگی به دنبال معجزه بودند. و راسپوتین به راحتی و بدون هیچ مقاومتی از جانب زن ها به مقصود شومش می رسید و زن ها هم به خیال اینکه راسپوتین مرد خداست خوشحال بودند.
و ملکه از همچین آدمی در امور مملکت داری راهنمایی می خواست و نظرش مهر تایید بود و این ها گناه راسپوتین نبود. بلکه مقصر تمام این ها خود شخص متوهم ملکه و ضعیف النفس بودن خود تزار بود که نتونست در برابر خواسته های ملکه بایسته.
درباره کتاب جلد اولش جذاب بود و اطلاعات خوبی داشت(در چاپ جدید دو جلد شده، تا فصل 9 یا 10) ولی جلد دوم خیلی جزییات بی اهمیت داشت و خسته کننده بود. لزومی نداشت بدونیم مسؤل فلان کلیسا عوض شده این اومده اون رفته و....
اگه این جزئیات بی اهمیت نبود و کتاب جمع جور تر میشد لذت بیشتری میبردم.

[Sadra Kharrazi · Rating 3 out of 5]

خب خیلی خوشحالم که بالاخره تونستم این کتاب رو تموم کنم؛ مدت‌ها بود که می‌خواستم بخونمش و خوندنش هم خیلی طول کشید؛ چون هم خیلی طولانی و مفصل بود هم اینکه کتابی نبود که بشه پیوسته خوندش.

روسیه از اون کشوراییه که تاریخی مملوء از حوادث جذاب و خوندنی داره که فکر میکنم این موضوع برآمده از اون ژن نیمه آسیاییش هست و آقای ادوراد راژینسکی در کتاب راسپوتین: ابلیس یا قدیس ( که واقعا فکر نکنم عنوانی بهتر و مناسب‌تر میشد برای این کتاب انتخاب کرد) دست به کار بزرگی میزنه و درمورد یکی از مرموزترین شخصیت‌های تمام دوران مطالب نسبتا جامعی رو بیان میکنه

[Cathal Kenneally · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have read a lot of books on Russian history, including famous or infamous people whichever way you want to look at it, but this is probably the worst. I couldn’t get into it; this is probably the reason I took so long reading and I was reading other books aside from that. It was easy to get distracted.
I’m not disputing the author’s sources but a lot of them seem to have come from the File which I capitalise as that is how it is referred to in the book.
Okay there are other sources where he gets letters etc but it didn’t grab me. I spent too long reading it.

[aPriL does feral sometimes · Rating 4 out of 5]

'The Rasputin File' by Edvard Radzinsky is one of those books which have a surface tone, in its English translation, of being a 'lightweight' celebrity expose. However, this book is dense with facts backed up with documentation. It is an academic biography. The author is a television personality as well as a historian who is known for choosing as his subjects those people who reside on the scandalous scale of history's judgement. Radzindky reveals Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (1869 - 1916) like a character in a mystery novel, with newly discovered historical documentation, peeling back the layers of the mystery of Rasputin like an onion.

https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/11/bo...

Quoted from the above New York Times link:

"What makes ''The Rasputin File'' really fresh are the long-lost or suppressed documents that Radzinsky has managed to bring to light. The core of this material derives from the investigation of the Romanov court set in motion in 1917 by the Russian provisional government during the brief interval between the fall of the czar in March and the Bolshevik Revolution in November. The ''Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry for the Investigation of Illegal Acts by Ministers and Other Responsible Persons of the Czarist Regime'' interrogated all the leading figures of the old government, and 12 sections of proceedings (initially edited by the poet Aleksandr Blok) were eventually published by the Soviet authorities in 1926 and 1927 in seven hefty volumes (not ''seven little . . . pitiful volumes,'' as Radzinsky oddly describes them). However, a ''13th section'' of the inquiry, devoted to uncovering the ''dark forces'' behind the czar by interviewing the lesser lights around Rasputin and the court, was not revealed until 1964, when the chief investigator's summary report was finally published in a Soviet journal. Radzinsky got into the archives of the commission in the 1980's, but to his surprise he found the transcripts of the 13th section interrogations missing."

"Then, in 1995, the documents mysteriously turned up at a Sotheby's auction in London. They were bought, sight unseen, by the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich, who turned them over to Radzinsky. Sotheby's confirms the transaction, but cannot reveal the provenance of the material."

"Radzinsky is a Russian playwright and television personality, as well as the author of books on Nicholas II and Stalin, and he likes to seek out the sensational. The question naturally arises as to the authenticity, accuracy or completeness of the Sotheby's documents and of Radzinsky's use of them. He does not mention any plans to publish the whole file, and in the present work he only quotes extracts to advance his story. To be sure, where these excerpts occasionally overlap with the published interrogations, they track closely. Judson Rosengrant's translation from the Russian is fluent and fast-paced, and there is no reason to question its reliability."


Radzinsky includes an in-depth section of Documentary Sources as well as a Bibliography and Index in the back of this book. I believe his source material is legit. But the author's conjectures and guesses? That will be up to you and me to filter, gentle reader.

Of course, the same difficulties which bedevil every biographer who attempts to write about Rasputin also force Radzinsky to make some educated guesses. Much is not known about Rasputin's youth, especially of his childhood and the early period of time when he married at age eighteen. What is known, most of what facts of his life which have been illuminated by documents, reports generated by police spying at the time, interviews, diaries, letters and newspapers, has been confused with myths, political agendas, the shame of having been friends or having involvement in Rasputin's orgies, and by the passage of time with a communist revolution or two in between then and now ('The Rasputin File' was published in 2000).

Information about Rasputin has been researched often under a secretive Communist government which believes in a doctrine of erasing inconvenient history. Radzinsky must use the general knowledge we all have of usual human behaviors to fill in some of the gaps in the document trail with educated surmises.

Rasputin shows himself as a complex man with extraordinary swings of temperament - an extreme personality who seems to not have been centered or evenly balanced within himself (my opinion). He seemed to swing wildly between trying to live above physical demands and preaching the peace of living entirely within the love of God, while constantly failing to defeat his body's resulting escalated desires for sex and fleshly satisfactions. There are police interviews with prostitutes at whom Rasputin, after hiring, simply looked at naked without touching, leaving them afterwords - what, testing his willpower to resist? There are reports that he stood in freezing wet weather in fields for hours, not moving, or being bitten by mosquitoes without allowing himself to respond.

Apparently, the Rasputin File, which was developed from investigations of various Russian secret police organizations, is legitimate. It contains new letters, copies of diaries, and reports which were once known to exist, mentioned in other documentation, but were lost or suppressed - until Radzinsky received this mysterious box of papers from Mstislav Rostropovich, who got them from Sotheby's.

It is known Rasputin did indeed, at least for awhile, truly behave like a wandering ascetic monk of sorts looking for God, seeking out religious instruction. He picked up the teachings of many primitive village and serf religions in his walkabout. However, he deserted his wife and three children, walking away from his village home in Siberia, to seek out God.

Everyone agrees Rasputin had psychological power over Nicholas and Alexandra, the last tsar and tsarina of Russia, especially Alexandra. Everybody believes he gained this power over them because he convinced the couple he was magically keeping their son's disease of hemophilia from killing him. He DID seem to be able to 'know' people from the inside out, psychologically and physically, even predicting the onset of diseases, such as a kidney failure which actually occurred years later to a visitor who met him. Everybody agrees Rasputin used religion and superstition to convince the Romanovs. Eventually, through his influence on Alexandra, he caused Nicholas to make some disastrous political decisions - among them, removing from office a number of former close confidants and advisors who were incensed by their demotion.

Other aristocrats and high church officials did not like Rasputin much, especially those who had liked him at first. Rasputin was uneducated. He was of the lower classes, and he was rumored to be a frequent consumer of prostitutes and alcohol. It was also known he was having orgies with many women who ecstatically praised and surrounded him wherever he went. Many of the women testified he never drank, and did not even eat sweets, though.

Some Moscow/St. Petersburg high church mentors who took Rasputin in and recommended him to others - for awhile - soon discovered Rasputin appeared to be following some theology of his own making, suspiciously similar to the teachings of a disreputable village Christian sect called the Khlysty (whips).

The Khlysts believed in occasional orgies (called 'rejoicing'), held in order to impregnate women with 'Christs', sometimes flogging themselves, and inducing trances from lengthy whirling dances until the Holy Spirit entered them and led them to sex with 'Mothers of God'.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khlysts


"As in the Khlyst 'arcs' (which Rasputin had previously experienced) where they [Rasputin's cult] piously believed that it was through 'group sinning' that they would rid themselves of the demon of lechery. (Yurievsky presented the results of his investigation to Bishop Alexis of Tobolsk, Molchanov's father, and the bishop naturally threw it in the fire and ordered the priest to drop the matter.)"

Quoted from page 239


More on Rasputin's beliefs:

"And Beletsky, the chief of the Department of Police, testified before the Extraordinary Commission that Rasputin 'explained to his neophytes in my presence that it was by absorbing into his own membrane the sins he was struggling against...my absorbing filth and vice into himself, that a person achieved the transformation of his soul washed clean by his sins'. Or more accurately, washed clean not by his sins but by the constant repenting of sin. For repentance involved great torment and suffering and prayer....And they were the reason he would say to Zhukovskaya, 'Without sin there is no life, because if there is no repentance, there is no joy.'

"It was in fact about this that Lokhtina was speaking when she confirmed in the File some words of hers published by Iliodor [Lokhtina called Iliodor "Christ" and Rasputin "Lord of hosts"]: 'For a saint, everything is holy. That Father Grigory was like everyone else, then? People make it a sin, but he by that self-same sin only sanctified you and brought down upon you the grace of God.'"

"Nevertheless, Rasputin suffered in that first 'holy period'. He felt that lust had not been conquered, but that it conquered him. Thus came into being the Rasputin condition that recalls Dostoevsky - continuous suffering from a consciousness of one's own sinfulness, continuous appeals to God with prayer and repentance."

Quoted from page 240


"Where suffering from repentance transforms sin into Love."

"Love was the chief thing for him. Love everywhere overflowing."

"He bore a responsibility for them and was afraid that someone might corrupt them. For he sincerely believed that in sleeping with them, he had rid them of sin."

Quoted from page 241


Is this why Rasputin was promiscuous? Was he a Khlysty? Who knows? Evidence shows he definitely incorporated some Khlyst beliefs into his religious teachings. Why did the tzar and tzarina refuse to believe the police, their friends, their advisors, the newspapers, even, after the stories about Razputin began to be published, or when everyone came to the palace telling stories about Rasputin's scandalous 'drinking orgies'? Why did the royal couple seemingly not have any politically-savvy brain cells? Why did they both discount the disgust of their supportive government officials, who were growing mutinous exponentially? Why were they oblivious to the brewing rebellion of a discontented populace, suffering deeply from being the 99% of the population which was poor, while the extravagantly wealthy 1% were openly corrupt and unjust?

From reading this book, imho the two monarchs were living inside a religious bubble induced by panic. They had to fight two defensive wars caused by aggressive nations. They were almost completely isolated from people and the public because of their fear of the ongoing Russian revolutionary terrorism which had already killed several of their relatives by bombings and bullets.

The royal couple were already swamped and drowning intellectually and emotionally, partially from a strong faith in a barely transformed eastern Christianity built on top of many pagan Russian superstitions, and partially because of a rigid class structure dictating their maintenance of a class superiority over their peasants. The two were mentally ill-equipped for the new philosophical, educational and technological 20th-century modernity of their changing times, imho. This closed and isolated Russian aristocratic palace had barely moved from the feudalism mores of the 17th century. The political pressures on the Romanov tsar and Russian leadership were enormous.

And, a description in the book of an amazing Russian belief ...

"Holy fools are a Russian phenomenon...Yet in Muscovy the voice of the holy fool was taken as the voice of God. [Russians developed this belief in Holy Fools as special agents from God from the Bible, Corinthians 1, 4:10 and 3:19; and Mark 8:34]"

page 242

"As G. Shavelsky, the head chaplain of the Imperial army and navy, wrote, 'On the tsarina's desk was the book Sainted Holy Fools of the Russian Church, with her marginal notes next to the passages where the sexual dissoluteness of the holy fools was discussed.' Alexandra believed Rasputin to be a blessed Holy Fool.

page 244


In 1914, Raputin appeared to have a crisis of faith, maybe brought on by boredom with sex without solving his sense of the mystery of God's salvation? World War I starting (he hated war)? The first known assassination attempt on his life? Anyway, he began to drink, heavily, for real for the first time, and went to a professional hypnotist to learn the art of hypnotism.

Rasputin was definitely used as a political rallying point for the tsar's enemies and competitors for control of the government. The presence of Rasputin and his influence over the German-born Alexandra was a powerful divisive tool used by the various Russian plotters and revolutionaries surrounding the Russian court! There were many plots, according to the documents described in this book.

Rasputin was only a crude but dangerously powerful televangelist in my opinion, a type of person America polishes into a more shiny television star. But in Russian society, he was an evil bogeyman - the Devil's minion. After the Revolution, anyone found that was connected to him was put to death.

'The Rasputin File' is of a writing style which annoyed me at first, but I realized after awhile it fits the slippery and sometimes obscure nature of the history of the subject. The somewhat disorganized explanations of the events in Rasputin's lifetime I originally felt the book to have, are because, I think, of the involved mysteries and contradictions of background facts and guesses needing to be told, or the need to put stuff into some ordered timeline which is relevant. So many witnesses (thousands) wrote a sentence here regarding a meeting or there of an impression, or of part of a story, they heard (plus the Romanov 'family' is huge, going back in time and interconnected for generations). Somehow Radzinsky stitches each disconnected clue, letter or a mention of an event together to reveal at last the entire sequence of an incident, or at least helping to shape the event through reasonable guesses or assumptions.

The author provides readers with a genealogy chart, and a list of connected characters as well, which was very useful if one wants to follow exactly the stitches the author knits together. I tend to be more holistic in my reading, so I kinda blew by the scholarly knitpicking, and kept moving forward. It worked for me.

[Smashpanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book for a friend and even though my interest on the topic was minimal at the beginning of the work I was completely drawn into the entire Russian empire at that time by the time I was finished. The author gives you more than just a Rasputin biography here which is the main pulling point of this work of non-fiction; he gives you a background and history lesson of the entire Russian court and all of the key players in history at that time rather than just following the path of Rasputin and examining the myths that surrounded the man. He actually DEBUNKS the myths, kind of like an early 20-th century special episode of Mythbusters, but without the funny looking middle-aged men and a lot less explosions. The report this book ends up turning into is so extensive that I had no questions remaining in my mind at the end of the book, I had a thorough understanding and even opinion on the man as well as the Russian court and man that was just something I did not expect to even want to think about at all.

[R · Rating 4 out of 5]

Once you are a believer, you cannot be a seeker!

باور جاهلانه ملکه به مرد خدا (راسپوتین) که تنها راه رستگاری حکومت تزاری از طریق دعا ها و نظرات او امکان پذیر است و باور تزار به ملکه در ایام جنگ جهانی اول یکی از محکم ترین دلایلی بود که سلسه سیصد ساله رومانف ها از بین رفت. تاریخ ی بار دیگه بهمون گفت جاییکه کورکورانه باور داشته باشیم نتیجه ای جز فنا در انتظارمون نیست.
تو این کتاب با فرقه ای به نام فرقه خلیستی آشنا شدم که در کنار اصول و آیین هاشون به چرخه ی گناه (مخصوصا بی بند و باری های جنسی ) و توبه برای تزکیه روح و نزدیکی روحشون به خدا اعتقاد داشتند.

[Braxton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the best book about Grigori Rasputin I have found. It is interesting, and not at all dry and boring like a lot of historical books. This book practically wrote an eight page research paper for me. Out of a whole stack of books about Rasputin, this was the one I kept coming back too for references.

[Sera · Rating 2 out of 5]

For a man who is incredibly fascinating, this book was a real snoozefest.

[Daniil · Rating 5 out of 5]

One way or another I kept hearing Rasputin’s name throughout my life - in history books, fiction and non-fiction, songs, references but did not have a clear picture of his life and his impact on Russia’s (and the world’s!!) history, until I picked up Radzinsky’s book (in Russian). What a life, what a persona and what a role in the entire world’s history this Russian peasant has played. The book reads like a thriller, it is hard not to get frustrated by blindness of the royals, who might have been alive for many more years if not for the absurd thrall that Rasputin cast over them and other most educated people in the country. It’s fascinating as it is scary to think of the almost supernatural power that this simple peasant had amassed. It is impossible not to wonder what course Russian history would have taken if Rasputin did not exist. Would it still be a monarchy?
A captivating, insightful page-turner of a book. Highly recommend!

[Kuszma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Azt már a Boney M óta tudjuk, hogy ó, ezek az oroszok, és hogy ez a Raszputyin még a többi orosznál is óbb. Radzinszkij kötete arra törekszik, hogy megismertesse velünk a világtörténelem e páratlan figuráját, kissé mélyebben, mint ahogy azt a legendás popzenekar dalszövege* tette. Első észrevételem ezzel a könyvvel kapcsolatban az volt, hogy a szerző csak ebben a műben annyi felkiáltójelet használt el, mint a komplett angolszász történészszakma Gibbontól egészen napjainkig – bevallom, ez kicsit gyanakvóvá is tett. Nézetem szerint ugyanis a felkiáltójelek és a Caps Lock segítségével nyomatékosított szavak ("AZ ÜGY") nem kifejezetten történelmi szakmunkákba valóak.

Radzinszkij könyve valahol az objektív ismeretterjesztő monográfia és a szubjektív vélemény határán kötéltáncol, és nehezen tudom eldönteni, melyikhez áll közelebb. Egyfelől szemre ez a kötet tárgyszerű, mert elképesztő mennyiségű citátumot használ fel mindenféle korabeli visszaemlékezésből illetve ügynöki jelentésből** – ám egy közös van valamennyi idézetben: kivétel nélkül mindegyik elfogult. Vagy így, vagy úgy. Motoszkált is bennem a kisördög, hogy ha Raszputyinról gyökeresen eltérő profilképet akarunk alkotni, akkor azt is megtehetnénk, csak éppen más értelmű idézeteket kéne beleollózni a szövegbe – biztos olyanok is akadnak a róla szóló visszaemlékezések tengerében. Meg egyáltalán: úgy általában véve Radzinszkij túl erősen sugalmazza a saját hipotéziseit – gyakran úgy, hogy azokat nem támasztja alá kellőképpen tényekkel, illetve visszakereshető forrásokkal.

Ami miatt mégis azt mondom, hogy ezt a könyvet érdemes elolvasni, az a korszak atmoszférájának érzékelteltetése. Mert akár elfogadom Radzinszkij elméletét, akár nem, azt meg kell hagyni, hogy Raszputyin pályafutása tényleg nehezen magyarázható a szokásos sémák szerint, és innentől kezdve ha igaza van a szerzőnek, ha nem, hipotézise végtére is megérdemli a figyelmet. Van ez a muzsik, aki valahonnan a szibériai őserdőből odakeveredik Szentpétervárra, becsámpázik a felséges cár felséges színe elé, és az ujja köré csavarja őt. Hogy lehet ez? A híres hipnotikus tekintet az oka? Vagy az egyéb X-aktákba illő varázslatok – például hogy kézrátétellel gyógyítja a trónörökös vérzékenységét? Vagy egyszerűen arról van szó, hogy Miklós cár és felesége túlságosan beleszédültek az orosz néplélek tanulmányozásába, meg a misztikumba, és túl sok Müller Pétert olvastak, amit aztán egy minden hájjal megkent szélhámos sikerrel ki is aknázott? Ki tudja. Az biztos, hogy a Radzinszkij által felvázolt/megálmodott Raszputyin izgalmas alak: egy igazi jurogyivij, egy „szent őrült”, olyasvalaki, aki a gazdag orosz szektahagyományból emelkedett ki, és hiszi, hogy a bűnbánat bűn nélkül nem ér semmit – imáink csak akkor találják meg Istent, ha először a lehető legmélyebbre bukunk a szégyenbe és a piszokba. És nem mellesleg példátlanul karizmatikus személyiség, aki ezen hitét képes átsugározni környezetére – köztük a cári családra, így olyan magas polcra emelkedik, amire muzsik még sosem az orosz történelemben. Csak hát – mint az köztudott – magasról lehet a legnagyobbat esni.

Ráadásul Radzinszkij az önmagában is erős történet mögé magabiztosan szövi oda a korszak világvége-hangulatát: a Duma és a cár közti folyton növekvő feszültséget, a liberálisok, forradalmárok és reakciósok állandó küzdelmét, a forrongó Moszkvát és Szentpétervárt, ahol nemsokára történni fog valami… valami, ami romba dönti majd az egész birodalmat. A szerző az apokalipszis ezen ígéretét jól érezhetően összeköti Raszputyin hihetetlen felemelkedésével és szörnyűséges bukásával – persze hogy a két esemény valóban így össze volna nőve, azon lehet vitatkozni, de az biztos, hogy a könyvnek jól áll ez az analógia.

* Amúgy az megvan, hogy a Boney M frontemberét, Bobby Farrell-t egy szentpétervári hotelszobában találták holtan – abban a városban, ahol Raszputyin is oly sok bajt kavart? (Csak ha valakit vonzanak az összeesküvés-elméletek.)
** Az „elképesztő” ebben a kontextusban azt takarja, hogy túl sokat is. Új információt ugyanis egy idő után ezek a kiragadott szövegek nem közölnek.

[Ally · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really wanted to like this book, but I found a some problems with it. Some of them are purely housekeeping problems. For instance, the English translation is good, but I think it sucks some of the punch out of the language. There are exclamation points where there shouldn't be, and assumptions of what the author is saying in parenthiesis where there needn't be. It comes off drier than I think the original author intended.

The bigger problem is that the author promises to offer an unbiased look at Rasputin, from the perspective of those who knew him best. He accomplishes this through blaming Tsarina Alexandra wherever and whenever possible, saying that most of what Rasputin did was through his gleaning insight, and that he instinctually knew what SHE wanted him to do. When it's NOT possible, he switches tactics, and discounts the things Rasputin's friends and admirers say about him. It seems virtually everyone in Russia who was connected to the man was fat, ugly, gay, or probably gay. Or possibly had a gay husband. Entertaining to note, sure, but certainly far from the unbiased look the author promises. Tsarina Alexandra is continually compared to Marie Antoinette, and Rasputin is compared to both Hitler and Stalin, but is most commonly called, "the semi-illiterate Russian peasant." When I say 'commonly reffered as' I mean Radzinsky seems determined to remind us of his status every three or four pages. (Again, that could be the translation.) There's a line in the first section of the book that talks about life before Rasputin's birth, how many miscarriages his mother had, where it says, "like Hitler and Stalin, Rasputin was an only child, as if God had warned against that family reproducing." Then casually goes on in later pages to talk about Rasputin's own five children!

I wasn't exactly expecting sympathy for the man who is blamed for the fall of Russian Imperialism. It's a good read in that it doesn't skimp on details, and though the endings and conclusions are nothing I haven't heard before, there were lots of other little details in it that the historian in me loved. But the author promises to look at the story and the man in an unbiased way, and you can clearly see the author's own bias all through it. As he is a noted historian, I have to admit, I expected to find something a little more interesting and provocative. I have a feeling that's what the author meant to do, but in the end, even HE couldn't make up his mind, or deny his own biases.

[Alireza · Rating 4 out of 5]

این کتاب به خوبی زوایای پیدا و پنهان زندگی یکی از مرموزترین افراد در تاریخ روسیه رو نشون میده
نویسنده برای جمع‌آوری اطلاعات و نوشتن این کتاب زحمت زیادی کشیده و جزئیات خیلی ریزی رو مطرح میکنه. از زمانی که سر و کله این دهقان سیبریایی پیدا میشه تا آخرین لحظات زندگیش رو به خوبی تصویرسازی میکنه
از همه مهم‌تر شاید رعایت بی‌طرفی نویسنده هستش، حتی در خصوص مرگ که ابهامات و افسانه‌های زیادی وجود داره، سعی میکنه با ذکر روایت‌های مختلف، به نتیجه‌گیری مناسبی برسه
یه ذره حجم کتاب زیاد و طولانی هستش ولی روند کتاب حوصله‌سربر نیست و نویسنده تلاش کرده با یه سری وقفه‌ها و جابجایی‌های زمانی از یکنواختی کتاب جلوگیری کنه، انصافا هم موفق بوده
با خوندن این کتاب اطلاعات خوبی در خصوص زندگی آخرین تزار روسیه و خانواده‌ش، شرایط کشور در اون زمان، انقلاب‌های روسیه و از همه مهم‌تر اعتقادات مردم عادی در روسیه و شاخه‌های مختلف مذهبی که به صورت ترکیبی از مسیحیت و آیین شمنیسم شکل گرفتن رو به دست میارید
فقط نکته سخت کتاب (که توی اکثر کتاب‌های روسی هستش) تعدد اسامی شبیه به هم هستش که وقتی بدتر میشه که با اسامی سه کلمه‌ای، لقب افراد، نحوه صدا کردن دوستانه و نحوه صدا کردن همراه باتحقیر ترکیب میشه و باعث پیچیدگی داستان میشه
(پیشنهاد میکنم قبلش یه مطالعه‌ای در خصوص شکل مونث و مذکر اسامی در روسی و نحوه کوتاه‌کردن نام‌ها و صدا کردن همدیگه به روسی داشته باشید)

ترجمه هم خوب و روان بودش البته به نظرم یه جاهایی به خاطر شرایط ممیزی از یه سری لغات خاص استفاده میشه که خواننده بعد از چند بار تکرار این نوع کلمات متوجه میشه منظور نویسنده و مترجم چی بوده

[Little Timmy · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the most misunderstood and scariest men every to live. This book covers his life from his discovery as a humble monk to the man behind the throne of Russia. A slow to read but very interesting book. Very Recommended

[HaifaAhrari · Rating 4 out of 5]

کتاب به زندگی راسپوتین مرد دو چهره‌ای می‌پردازد که همواره حقیقت درباره او در شک بوده است. آیا او یک قدیسه بود یا کسی که روحش را به شیطان فروخته بود.

گریگوری افیموویچ راسپوتین دهقانی بود که در جریان بیماری تزارویچ الکسی وارد دربار می‌شود و او موفق می‌شود که شاهزاده جوان را درمان کند در قصر ماندگار می‌شود. طولی نمی‌کشد راسپوتین دست راست شاه و ملکه و مورد اعتماد آنها می‌شود. به طوری که در تمام امور سیاسی دخالت می‌کند و این مسئله سبب حسادت اطرافیان می‌شود. تا سر انجام منجر به قتل او می‌شود. اما این شخصیت به دلیل پیشگویی‌هایش و زنبارگی بی حدش و نقشی که در انقلاب روسیه بازی کرده به شخصیتی راز آمیز و معمایی تبدیل شده است. این کتاب با بررسی منابع تاریخی قصد دارد زندگی راسپوتین را بررسی کند. در سال ۱۹۹۵ یک پرونده گمشده از بایگانی روسیه پیدا شد، پرونده‌ای که شامل بازجویی‌های کامل از حلقه‌ی داخلی راسپوتین بود. با این تقویت گسترده و صریح از سابقه‌ی تاریخی ، ادوارد راژینسکی زندگی نامه‌ای قطعی را نوشته است، و زندگی جذاب یک انسان احتمالا مقدس را که روند تاریخ روسیه را تغییر داده است، به طور کامل بازسازی می‌کند.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this book as a birthday present from Nick a bunch of years ago and I have finally just gotten around to reading it. Before I even begin, let me just say that I am big into Russian history. Prior to reading this book, I mostly was interested in the Lenin and Stalin periods of Russian history, but this book definately made me want to know more about the period right before it. This book is so great because it is written so much like a novel. It's really exciting and dramatic as the author uses this secret document that he personally was on a quest for and finally discovered (also known as "The File"). This book not only describes the traditional legend of Rasputin, but also goes into detail about his influence at Tsarskoe Selo as well as his ties to his other followers. All in all, I'd say this is a great book for anyone interested in learning about one of the greatest factors leading up to the Bolshekiv revoution.
ps I've also read his biography of Stalin which is also excellent...

[Pedro · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un libro construido a partir de los hechos y que ayudan a colocar a Rasputín en un marco histórico concreto con su historia y su circunstancia.

Este libro complementa a otros como Nicolás y Alejandra así como El Fin de los Romanov. Una persona clave y que al final de todo era un ser humano que desgraciadamente sus obras socavaron las bases de la monarquía rusa.

Un enigma del siglo XX.

[Steve Shilstone · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book explains how a mystic peasant holy man debauchee came to darn near rule Russia via his tremendous influence over the tsarina Alexandra, who herself was the power behind her husband Nick's throne.

[Sasha · Rating 3 out of 5]

My interest in anything Romanov occasionally borders with obsession so if there is a book about this subject,you can bet I will read it.
Found this one in local bookshop and of course had to buy it although at this point I am very familiar with the story,but here we have fresh files (unearthed from somewhere and sold on Sotheby's auction,presented as a gift to author),photos and less known characters.

It is a huge,occasionally very exhausting story that covers not only royal family and their inner circle but literally cast of thousands who one way or the other influenced the story,for example we have police file on everybody who has ever visited Rasputin's house,his visits to prostitutes,names of priests he clashed with,politicians who used him (and were used) and so on. Towards the end I must admit I started losing the count who is who and perhaps the book would have benefited from some serious editing but never mind,obviously the author was delighted with access to newly discovered files and I understand the pleasure of dealing with facts instead of second-guessing what actually happened. Hm,we are still talking about the "facts" but must admit these are documents that survived communism so who knows how distilled these "facts" actually are.

At the very first,I thought this might be (finally) a fresh look at character with incredibly bad reputation and something inside still tells me there is a possibility Rasputin's reputation was destroyed by his enemies. But soon it became clear this was not author's intention - Radzinsky is not interested in explanations of how and why,he is focused on messages,letters and interviews (in itself perhaps illusionary as we don't know for sure whom were they sent and what was the story behind it - letters signed with "Darling" could but don't have been sent by Empress,for example). Another thing is,Radzinsky is very one-sided: if he decides against certain character,he will write about him/her with disgust and clearly visible contempt (see Ana Vyrubova) no matter what documents say. Communists have released Vyrubova from prison because they simply couldn't find anything against her but Radzinsky still believes she was evil incarnated and never mind the documents. The fact that woman escaped certain death almost annoys him and reader can feel his irritation with the fact that she wasn't killed in some basement.

Lots of interesting pictures and research is well done,still the writing style could have been better (or should we say,more neutral) but apparently this is a subject where everybody gets one-sided and is difficult to stay calm. I am still waiting for realistic version of Rasputin and someone who will explain his behavior from different perspective,not only as a charlatan,mad monk and hypnotist. I refuse to believe he was evil and even the stories abut his drunken escapades and orgies don't make him less human (on contrary),in fact there was a certain childish innocence abut him specially when (for example) he would rush to visit friends who prepared beatings (or something similar nasty) for him,not even suspecting people hate him. I say,read between the lines. History is written by winners and you can bet media can turn any of us into mad monks,charlatans and whatnot if they lack understanding of what actually happened.

[Moon Rose (M.R.) · Rating 3 out of 5]

Paganism has made an indelible mark in Christianity from the time of its birth, incorporating its antiquated mystic culture into the mainstream of its belief unbeknownst mostly to all, yet it is deeply ingrained in the tradition of the Christian thought. It has somehow created a convoluted world of endless discord in the pursuit of which is the truth, or which is the false.

The mysticism that envelops the figure of Rasputin during the last days of Tsarist Russia best illustrates this fusion of dark sorcery and holiness that literally brought down the entire empire to its knees as it perhaps epitomizes the oscillation of a common man between good and evil, capturing the conflict between the nature of God and the Devil in the battlefield known as the human consciousness.

Without sin there is no life, because there is no repentance, and if there is no repentance, there is no joy.

That sinfulness is next to godliness, was Rasputin′s famous epitaph, it was his legacy to the world from which salvation from earthly existence can be achieved even through debauchery. It was to willingly succumb into the desires of the flesh in order to exorcise the transient need from the body as a precursor step into holiness. Despite this vile and somewhat ignominious presence during his life at court, the most mysterious part was Empress Alexandra had remained his devout follower as multitudes of other women as well, following the Tsarina′s example. This blind devotion to Rasputin was in itself more inexplicable and more mysterious than the mysteries that appeared to surround his character, or was it? It may simply be just an overwhelming mother′s love to her sick child that made the empress bow down to him since it was only Rasputin who could cure his ailing son. Perhaps in the depths of her mind, she was ready to give up everything as she became consciously aware of their fall to destruction in exchange of the life of her one and only son, not fully comprehending that in saving his only son, she was preparing the foreground for their own deaths. ☾☯

[Martin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd recommend this book - with one caveat - for anyone who's fascinated by early Twentieth Century Russian history, or a general interest in some of the events that led up to the First World War.

The only significant issue it suffers from is the fact that the author and/or translator makes it a rather heavy-going read, so quite a bit of patience is needed to see it through to the end. If you persevere with it though, I'd say it's a thorough and insightful attempt to explain a very complicated and often misinterpreted part of history.

Rasputin's image in popular culture makes it extremely difficult to judge him as a person - even at the time, he was subject to propaganda and rumours that paint him as an evil, quasi-mythological figure. Even today, the name brings up some inaccurate and quite outrageous ideas of who and what he was. Radzinsky makes use of additional evidence that has more recently come to light to make what is I think a worthy attempt to set the record straight. For better or for worse, this humanises Rasputin and helps the reader make up his or her own mind about the man and his life. In some ways, it makes Rasputin even more interesting and of course there's a lot of political and intrigue that motivated the people around him.

After all this time I guess it's nigh-on impossible to find out the truth about what happened, but Radzinsky's take on the events leading up to Rasputin's death in 1916 is a convincing one. He comes across as being refreshingly impartial, presenting testimonies and keeping personal opinion and conjecture to a minimum. I now feel I have a greater understanding of who Rasputin was, and why events turned out the way they did.

Despite the heavy-going style, I now want to track down Radzinsky's other English-translated nonfiction book: his account of the last days of the Romanov dynasty. Because of Rasputin's closeness to the tsar and his family, they too are portrayed in what feels like a fair and balanced way in this book, so I'm confident that the same approach has been taken in telling their story as well.

[Ollie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's hard to imagine a biography of Rasputin being complete without the documents that Radzinsky has unearthed. These are the police reports, official testaments and interviews with the different people that had a chance to interact with the man. Long thought destroyed, they magically popped up in an auction in Paris, and as luck would have it Radzinky got a hold of them.

Radzinsky most definitely makes an exhaustive attempt of telling what Rasputin's life was like and who people believed he was as a person. Certainly some people considered him a saint, while others thought of him as more of a vile, treacherous, power-hungry pervert. Whatever the case may be, Rasputin definitely knew how to play the game, and knew how to stay close to the Tsar and Tsarina, even though it became obvious that he is severely lacking in the priestly department (such as speaking in incoherent and confused sentences). How exactly Rasputin was able to treat the young prince also remains unclear, but what matters is that the highly influential Tsarina believed Rasputin to be some sort of God sent which would save Russia (albeit indirectly by saving the heir).

While his life was certainly interesting with the sheer amount of debauchery, whoring, drinking (which would come later), and endless attempts on his life, equally interesting is the plight of the Tsar and Tsarina who are so ignorant and naïve that they firmly believe that the plethora of warnings they receive from everyone around them is a test to challenge their faith in God.

And, while the Rasputin File is so chockfull of "characters" with confusing names that it's hard to keep everyone's identity straight, the story it tells and is able to mystify a reader even 100 years after the protagonist has died.

[J. · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm just not enough of a history buff to read something quite this detailed, so maybe I have myself to blame for getting bogged down in this. It isn't a bad telling, but it is really detailed at times. And I do have to say that the severe overuse of sentence fragments is pretty distracting.

Having said all of that, the ending is a pretty serious payoff. The author describes "the facts" of what happened the evening of the murder, then tells what he thinks REALLY happened, and that's where it really gets fascinating (and a lot of the overly-detailed portions pay off.) So the ending certainly leaves a solid sense of satisfaction. So: 3 stars.

+++++++++++

But, although I can't really blame the author for this, I do feel obligated to point out that my copy of the book is missing about 30 pages. Apparently, one folio was traded for another during the production process, so I've got two copies of one batch of pages and, presumably, someone has my copy and their copy of the pages I'm missing. So that's really annoying. I'm going to dock a star for this. If mine is the only messed-up copy, it won't matter. But if there are a lot of busted copies, it should hurt the standing of the book, I guess. -1 star.