Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

by Douglas Smith

A century after his murder, Rasputin is still widely seen as the personification of evil and the truth has remained shrouded in myth. In this acclaimed biography, Douglas Smith separates fact from fiction to reveal the real Rasputin in all his complexity – man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. The result is not only a definitive biography of an extraordinary man, it is also a riveting portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Russia, Russian History, Audiobook, Politics

848 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2016

About the author

​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 is the recipient of numerous awards and distinctions, including a Fulbright scholarship and a residency at the Rockefeller Foundation’s Bellagio Study Center.

His latest book, Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy, was published in 2012 with Farrar, Straus and Giroux in the U.S. and Macmillan in the U.K. Read an interview with Douglas Smith about Former People and listen to his interview on KUOW Radio.

Douglas Smith is currently writing a biography of Grigory Rasputin to be published by Farrar, Straus & Giroux in 2016.

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

“The life of Rasputin is one of the most remarkable in modern history. It reads like a dark fairy tale. An obscure, uneducated peasant from the wilds of Siberia receives a calling from God and sets out in search of the true faith, a journey that leads him across the vast expanses of Russia for many years before finally bringing him to the palace of the tsar. The royal family takes him in and is bewitched by his piety, his unerring insights into the human soul, and his simple peasant ways. Miraculously, he saves the life of the heir to the throne, but the presence of this outsider, and the influence he wields with the tsar and tsarita, angers the great men of the realm and they lure him into a trap and kill him. Many believed the holy peasant had foreseen his death and prophesied that should anything happen to him, the tsar would lose his throne. And so he does, and the kingdom he once ruled is plunged into unspeakable bloodletting and misery for years…”
- Douglas Smith, Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs


Everyone knows at least something about Rasputin.

Take, for instance, my then-6-year-old daughter, Emilia.

Shortly before reading Douglas Smith’s Rasputin, I was sitting on the couch, watching the 1971 biopic Nicholas and Alexandra, covering the downfall of the Romanov dynasty. When Emilia walked in, Rasputin had just been introduced to Empress Alexandra by Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich. She hopped up on the couch, always eager to watch a “daddy movie,” and immediately asked: “Is that the villain?”

Intrigued by the question – Rasputin was not doing anything overtly villainous, other than look super intense – I replied: “Why do you think he’s the villain?”

“Because that’s Rasputin!” she said.

Surprised at her knowledge of Russian history, we discussed the matter further. Perhaps unsurprisingly, her facts came from Disney’s Anastasia, which I didn't know she’d seen, and have never watched myself. She described the plot to me, and I cringed in horror (Rasputin a sorcerer? Banished by Nicholas II? A talking bat?).

“That’s not what really happened,” I said.

“Then what happened?” she asked.

“I’ll tell you when you’re sixteen,” I dodged, not quite ready to explain the fate of the Romanov girls, their sickly brother, or their parents, in that awful basement of the Ipatiev House. “Let’s just say there wasn’t a bat involved.”

***

Emilia's conception of Rasputin does a good job illustrating his legacy. We’ve all heard the name. We’d probably recognize his face (those eyes, that beard). And we all have a bunch of preconceived notions about him, most of them negative.

Douglas Smith’s ponderous biograpny attempts to set the record straight. In 680 dense pages of text, he tries to knock down literally every rumor and hyperbolic anecdote and false legend that ever swirled about the Siberian starets who has been blamed with toppling an empire. He succeeds in stripping away most of the falsehoods. Once he’s done, unfortunately, there’s not enough left of the man to justify this enormous biography.

***

When I say this is 680 pages long, I don’t think it gives an accurate indication of Rasputin’s actual length. It feels like a thousand pages. More to the point, it probably would have been, if Smith had been able to find out anything about the first three decades of Rasputin’s life, before he stepped onto the historical stage.

Grigory Rasputin was a Siberian peasant turned pilgrim who gained a following due to his devoutness and perceived abilities as a healer. Introduced to Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarita Alexandra by Grand Duke Nikolai, he was warmly received by a Royal Couple quite susceptible to charismatic religious figures. (Smith, as an example of his thoroughness, devotes an entire chapter to Monsieur Philippe, a charlatan enthusiastically embraced – for a time – by Nicholas and Alexandra).

The Rasputin of legend, which is to say, the Rasputin of conventional knowledge, gained his power over the Tsar and Tsarina by his ability to “heal” Alexei, the young hemophiliac heir to the throne. When Russia entered World War I, and began to suffer massive casualties, shortages, and labor unrest, he came to be a lightning rod of criticism. Both the left and right saw him as a devil on Tsar Nicholas II’s shoulder, controlling him for some nefarious ends.

In Smith’s recollection, Rasputin’s role was much more tangential. Yes, Empress Alexandra believed that his prayers helped Alexei during various illnesses, but Smith shows that the Royal Couple brought Rasputin into their confidence for reasons beyond their ailing son. Yes, Rasputin gave Nicholas a lot of advice, but Smith shows that Nicholas ignored most of it. Rasputin’s historical importance, then, resides not in what he actually did, but in what people thought he did.

And boy, people had a lot of thoughts!

***

The number of people who hated Rasputin is staggering. It reminds me of a classic episode of The Simpsons, when Sideshow Bob asks Homer: “How can one ordinary man have so many enemies?” To which Homer responds: “I’m a people person…who drinks.”

As was Rasputin.

Despite his faith, which Smith finds honestly held, Rasputin loved to drink, flirt, conduct the occasional affair, and visit the occasional prostitute. From these kernels of truth sprang a cottage industry of defamatory reports: Rasputin the rapist; Rasputin the organizer of orgies; Rasputin the cult member (or khlyst). One Rasputin hater went so far as to claim, in a single broadside, that Rasputin both conducted sexual affairs and had a non-functioning penis. It takes a certain depth of hatred to make that claim!

Smith’s way of cutting through the fog is meticulous and commendable. It also makes for a slogging read. A typical chapter of Rasputin will begin with an entertaining story from Rasputin’s life. Just as you reach the end, Smith will tell you that’s the “accepted” story, by which he means “a lie.” He will then go on to unearth the evidence he has produced (this is massively researched) showing what he thinks actually happened. In terms of thoroughness, I give him props. In terms of literary style, not so much. There were times I became utterly perplexed as to which version of the truth was the Smith-approved version. It was like watching Rashomon in Japanese with Cyrillic subtitles.

On top of that are the characters. Oh, there are so many! Hundreds of names, many appearing just once or twice. I couldn’t keep them straight. Now, I am not an expert in Russian history. I have, though, read more than a few books on this period. Even with that background, I couldn’t keep up with the depth of detail. I was constantly flipping back to remind myself who was who. (Honestly, I think the simple addition of a dramatis personae in the beginning would have helped so much).

***

This took me a good long while to finish. Between the careful parsing of truth and fiction, there are moments of great clarity and insight. I really liked Smith’s discussion on Rasputin’s actual “healing powers,” in which Smith utilized modern-day studies on the power of prayer, positive thinking, and touch to give an approximation of what gifts the holy man might actually have possessed. Rasputin’s murder, too, is given a full discussion, and does a decent job making sense of all the different narratives that sprang from it.

Rasputin certainly has its rewards for those who have the patience to finish. I definitely feel like I have a better grasp of his role in the Romanov collapse. Smith never quite finds the beating heart of the man, but he works overtime to humanize him. It struck me, for instance, that when Prince Yusupov arrived to take Rasputin back to his home – to kill him – Rasputin had just put two of his daughters to bed. Grigory Rasputin has become a lot of things to history; at one time, though, he was a father tucking in his children.

***

Ultimately, Smith’s Rasputin is the price you pay for historical fidelity. It does its job. It clears away the exaggerations, the lies, the adornments of myth, to draw a portrait that hews closer to reality.

It also strips away all the things that got me interested in reading about Rasputin in the first place.

[Gabrielle (Reading Rampage) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“There is no Rasputin without stories about Rasputin.”

My mother had a multi-volume history of the Romanov dynasty in her library, and while I can’t remember the author, I do remember thumbing through it in my late teens, not understanding most of it but being quite struck with the few pages about Rasputin’s assassination. Poison-laced cakes, gun shots AND being tossed in a freezing river had not been enough to kill him, according to that book: he had ultimately drowned, unable to escape the rolled-up carpet his assassins had carefully bundled him in. The story (fabricated, as it turns out, mostly by Rasputin’s murderer!) left a strong mark on my mind, and is probably the (admittedly weird and morbid) source of my interest in all things Russian: but I had not really read anything more detailed about the so-called Mad Monk until my mother-in-law surprised me with this book last Christmas.

I was aware of all kinds of stories, none of which were entirely verifiable, and that in many ways, the myth had taken over the reality of the man, and this book had a reputation as a very even and balanced biography of Grigory Rasputin, who was both a man and a legend, even when he was alive. Douglas Smith is one of the first historians to have had access to declassified documents from the tsarist era, so a lot of his sources are actually contemporary to the events he wrote about, and not simply based on endless retellings. The portrait painted by Smith is that of a complicated, but very human man. Someone with great intelligence and faith, but a streak of ambition and stubbornness that ran very deep. I was fascinated to learn that most of what we think we know about Rasputin (his drinking, his very active sex life, his healing and hypnotic powers, etc.) are very, very exaggerated, but that the truth under those stories is no less complex – if less scandalous.

One aspect of this book that I found particularly interesting is the Smith emphasizes that a lot of what we think as extraordinary in regards to Rasputin’s life and relationship with the royal family was actually not that uncommon for the time and place. There were over a million wandering spiritual seekers over Russia at the time, so his nomadic lifestyle was not unusual, and while we may now judge Nicholas and Alexandra as idiots who loved snake oil salesmen, the whole of Europe was enamoured with occultism at the time: séances we simply a way for rich and bored people to amuse themselves – whether or not they believed being a different matter altogether. So when those two circumstances overlap, a homeless monk who conducts miraculous healings is not the weirdest thing that could have caught the royal couple’s attention.

I learned many things that did not entirely surprise me: that Rasputin was used as a object of propaganda both for the Left and the Right makes sense, as everyone who knew him seem to have perceived him in a different, yet equally extreme way: people either saw him as a living saint or as the incarnation of Satan. Smith takes pain to remind his readers that Rasputin was neither: he was a Siberian peasant, a father, a man who cared deeply about his family and about those he considered his friends, including the royal couple. Did he ever abuse the perception other people had of him? Certainly, but there seem to be no evidence that he lusted for money or political power for its own sake. It’s much more appalling to read about the tsar’s utter lack of character, about his wife’s complete misreading of the political and social climate of the country she lived in, and about the cold-bloodedness of the people who were ultimately responsible for Rasputin’ murder than to read about a country man who ate with his fingers, loved to dance and have a drink and cared for his children very deeply.

The tone of this biography is certainly more forgiving of Rasputin than other works I have seen on the topic, but it is also not an attempt to make a saint or martyr out of him. Rather, Smith tries to put him in a greater context to explain why he was so remarkable and so shocking at the particular time and place where he happened to be, and how this remarkableness, for better or worse, let history to unfold as it did. It is also striking to see that the concept of fake news is clearly nothing new: the press published all kinds of falsehoods about Rasputin, which could have easily been disproved, but were accepted as truth by almost everyone, mostly because it was more convenient for them to believe extravagant exaggeration than to think more deeply about who profited from everyone believing those lies. I was especially struck by a passage commenting on the fact that it was much easier for the Russian people to believe that treason was the root of all the problems in the country, because the alternative was to think about their inept government, the famine and casualties of WWI and other aspects of their circumstances than entitled them rethinking the way they lived. Does that sound familiar at all, or is that just me?

The 4 star rating is because the narrative is sometimes bogged down by a lot of irrelevant details about the various people involved directly or indirectly in Rasputin’s life, and those details are sometime repetitive. I also wished we had gotten a more intimate image of the man, and not simply what everyone said about him, but I also understand how nearly impossible that is to accomplish without wild speculation, given the extremely limited amount of verifiable information available.

If you are interested in the history of the Romanov or the Russian Revolution, this is a very interesting and informative book.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

Douglas Smith seeks not only to pen a comprehensive biography of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin, but also to dispel many of the myths associated with the man throughout his life. While history has developed many apocryphal tales, there were those at the time just as eager to spin stories to ruin the reputation of this gentleman. It would appear that Smith’s overarching thesis in this massive work is to separate the myths from the concrete facts, substantiated not simply by newspaper accounts or journal entries by a peppering of Russians, but to delve deeper to see what could be supported from a variety of viewpoints, always difficult due to the span of time and likely poor record keeping after an ideological purge in 1917.

Smith opens the tome with a significant admission; there was very little documented evidence of of Grigori Rasputin for the first thirty years of his life. Cobbling together what little was known, Smith shares that Rasputin grew up in a rural Siberian community to a peasant family. Rasputin’s father was well-known in his community, but not for the best reasons. It would seem that the elder Rasputin was quite a sexual deviant, spreading his form of ‘love’ with whomever he could get close to him. Smith posits that this may be where some of the fodder for future stories originated, as would become apparent later in the biography. The entire family was without formal education at a time when the Russian average was quite low as well, though it would seem Grigori was able to piece together his own form of Russian, enough that historians (and those who received his letters) could comprehend the gist of his writing. Rasputin married and bore three children, two daughters and a son, while still living as a Siberian peasant. This family unit, while they did not follow Rasputin to his life in the limelight, appeared to support him throughout, baffling to the reader who reflects on this later during the biography’s more sensational tales.

When he left home, Rasputin used what some called his ‘hypnotic eyes’ and persuasive nature to pull people into his inner circle, where he would sometimes heal by laying hands on them. It was only later that Rasputin added a degree of faith to his persona, utilising the power of the Orthodox Church to have people feel that his powers came from a connection to God. As Smith explores throughout, Rasputin was often able to convince people that the power of prayer flowed through him and that many of his divinations came from this connection to God. Rasputin caught the eye of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsarina Alexandra, both of whom were in need of help to cure their son of haemophilia. Rasputin convinced them that he could help by laying hands on the young Tsesarevich Alexei. Praying over the young boy, Rasputin appeared able to lessen the pains Alexei felt, thereby convincing the Romanov rulers that he was a good person. However, for reasons not entirely clear, Rasputin began having his name sullied in the Russian press, much as his father did back in Siberia. Newspapers would mock Rasputin’s prayers as part of a scam and highlight the man’s sexual appetite. Woven throughout the text are tales that Smith has been able to extract regarding Rasputin’s penchant for bedding numerous prostitutes a night or to find himself in sexually compromising situations with many of the Russian hierarchy. Still, as the press churned out these stories, the Tsar and Tsarina refused to believe them, going so far as to find scientific explanations for Rasputin’s sexual nature as being tied to strong religious devotion. While Rasputin remained on hand to offer his insights when they were sought, his outward appearance was anything but alluring. Smith cites numerous journals and memoirs that depict Rasputin as dirty and unkept in appearance, which only fuels some of the ongoing stories about his Siberian peasant background and how he ought not be mixing with the upper class.

While all this continued, Europe was soon pulled apart by war, with Russia in the middle of it. Rasputin begged Tsar Nicholas to stay out of the fray, but Russian troops prepared and departed to defend their allies, something Rasputin predicted might bring down the Romanovs and change Russia forever. Little did anyone know just how right he was. With the Tsar away on numerous political and business trips, Rasputin agreed to protect the Tsarina and her family for long periods of time. This also led to his advising how to handle military maneuvers and quell the ongoing distress amongst the common Russian. Smith does draw some interesting arguments around Rasputin’s leanings during the Great War, tying together the Tsarina’s closeness to the holy man and her Germanic ancestry. This was another issue the press used to pain Rasputin as a less than admirable fellow. During the part of the biography, Smith exemplifies how Russia was at Rasputin’s whim, with both the Tsar and Tsarina turning to him for advice and taking his opinions as gospel (if you will pardon the loose pun).

With all this hatred, both in print and by people in general, there were numerous plots to extinguish Rasputin’s life, including a stabbing by a woman eventually deemed not of sound mind. Smith offers some excellent details around the major plot to kill Grigori Rasputin once and for all, including an elaborate plan to poison him. When that failed to work—stunning everyone who witnessed the event—Rasputin was shot until he was assuredly dead, then tossed into the river. Smith offers up a few detailed accounts from memoirs, citing that there were certainly some extrapolations to better ‘sell’ it after the fact, including the Grigori Rasputin was “the reincarnation of Satan”. Additionally, while many may know nothing about the man, the sequence of Rasputin’s murder seems etched into the minds of many, as it has become part of global folklore over the past century. Interesting to some readers will be Smith’s exploration of some of the international flavouring of the murder of Rasputin, including the use of British agents or influence by some Europeans governments to use Russians to extinguish the proselytising of Rasputin, which stirred up the populace, at least those who were still willing to listen. Either way, a significant part of the population seemed exuberant when hearing of Rasputin’s death. This was soon followed by the exile of the Romanovs and their eventual execution when Lenin’s Bolsheviks took the reins of power, a narrative that Smith presents effectively to end the tome.

Can Rasputin be blamed for the fall of the Romanovs and the shape of the military campaign Russia undertook during the Great War? It would seem so, as Smith depicts a man who was never questioned and rarely contradicted by those in highest authority, even as many who surrounded the royals begged them to heed other advice. While it is not entirely clear just how close Rasputin was with Tsarina Alexandra, Smith makes it perfectly clear that she was entirely taken with his every word, dismissing anything others had to say. If Rasputin were not running the country, he certainly had a front row seat to whisper things into the ears of those in power, eventually dooming them for their fidelity.

Douglas Smith does a stellar job presenting an encompassing view of the life and times of Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. The vast amount of information offered gives the reader much on which to feast as they come to a final conclusion about the man and the role he played in bringing down the Romanovs. While there are a number of myths propagated through history, stories, and a Euro-pop song by Boney M, Smith does not completely erase their possibility, but wants to substantiate them with research and reliable documentation. This is surely a great asset for Smith and adds validity to this biography. Pulling on as much information as possible, Smith seeks to offer a chronological view of Rasputin’s life, working with both the Julian and Gregorian calendars to offer important dates (see the introductory chapter for a full explanation) that give history some additional strength. Culling through scores of documents and synthesising them, as well as trying to get the proper translation to ensure the true flavour of the delivery, is surely of utmost importance when dealing with so many falsehoods and such a significant smear campaign. Page after page of the biography is full of information that supports the many theses that Smith puts forward. The only downside that I have come to discover is the supersaturation of information, which left me feeling overloaded. While I understand Smith wants to make the point clearly, it would seem that there was just too much to try to comprehend. Rasputin is so very misunderstood, if we are to believe Smith, as well as being extremely polarising. Truth be told, the lay reader may find the amount of supporting documentation exceeds what they can digest. Then again, others may bask in it (as I usually do), and seek more to fill in the minute gaps left out of Smith’s final publication. Overall, I was stunned with all the information I gleaned from this single volume biography and can only hope that I can find more of Smith’s writing to allow me to learn even more about the region and its complex history.

Kudos, Mr. Smith, as you have surely helped me to see just how much there is to know about Rasputin to better understand this most maligned man.

Like/hate the review? An ever-growing collection of others appears at:
http://pecheyponderings.wordpress.com/

A Book for All Seasons, a different sort of Book Challenge: https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/...

[Raquel · Rating 5 out of 5]

A história de Rasputin - como refere o autor - poderia servir de inspiração para um conto de fadas obscuro: como é que um camponês, semi-analfabeto, oriundo dos confins da Sibéria e, que, durante alguns anos foi apenas um peregrino mendicante, de repente, tem acesso ao palácio dos czares? Tornando-se numa figura muitíssimo controversa na sociedade russa do início do século passado e, inspirando lendas terríveis a seu respeito.
Estranhamente, apesar de Rasputin ter origens muito humildes, o contacto com a nobreza e os czares não o teria tornado numa espécie de "alpinista social" nem foi isso que motivou a sua aproximação a um mundo tão diferente daquele que conheceu na sua aldeia; há muitas contradições na vida de Rasputin que o autor tenta desvendar, procurando perceber as verdadeiras motivações desta obscura figura.

Atendendo ao carácter complexo da personalidade de Rasputin e à campanha de difamação que o perseguiu durante a sua vida e também na morte (morte, aliás, brutal, orquestrada por um príncipe e alguns conspiradores no frio dezembro de 1916); esta magnífica e exaustiva biografia procura restaurar, com precisão, a personalidade de Rasputin e a sua verdadeira influência nos destinos sombrios da Rússia nas décadas que antecederam as crises revolucionárias de 1917. O autor recorre a um infindável acervo bibliográfico, documentos da época, notícias dos jornais, cartas, etc., a fim de nos fornecer um retrato fiel deste homem incomum.

O livro serve, também, de introdução às turbulências sócio-políticas da época. Foi a postura passiva e influenciável (embora o livro ponha em crise a visão de que o czar era uma marioneta nas mãos de familiares e amigos) de Nicolau II que permitiu que o mito de Rasputin se tornasse perigoso e histórico. Contudo, quando confrontado com os rumores de que Rasputin influenciava os destinos da Nação, o czar desvalorizava e dizia que davam a Rasputin uma importância que este não tinha.

O livro desenvolve muito bem as crises e lutas internas na igreja ortodoxa, a relação de Rasputin com o pequeno herdeiro Romanov (a criança era hemofílica e Rasputin era visto como um amuleto da cura para o menino), explora as múltiplas facetas dos rumores sobre Rasputin procurando, de forma imparcial, fazer uma triagem de cada um deles.

Aborda, muito superficialmente, os últimos dias dos Romanov e os destinos que levaram os vários intervenientes de todas estas histórias, sob o período leninista.

Uma biografia densa, mas que se lê muito bem, sentindo-se a omnipresença de Rasputin a cada evento, um homem singular que foi parte da queda do gigantesco império russo e inaugurou uma nova era.

[Lili Kyurkchiyska · Rating 5 out of 5]

Това е третата биография на Распутин, която чета и тя далеч превъзхожда първите две (книгата на Анри Троая изобщо няма да коментирам, а за тази на Радзински ще кажа, че страда от недостатъчна научна дисциплина). Книгата е написана въз основа на първични източници, създадени приживе на Распутин и представят доста различна картина от масово възприетата. В нея главният герой не е демоничен светец, подтикван от тъмни сили да срине монархията; става въпрос за набожен селянин, сдобил се с репутация, благодарение на своята благочестивост и скромен произход. Той притежава природна интелигентност, житейски опит, състрадание и разбиране към различните, но те не са достатъчни да компенсират политическата неграмотност, която той и Александра Фьодоровна проявяват по отношение на общественото мнение и нуждата от реформи. Разказва и за механизма за създаване на легенди и фалшиви новини, които заливат Руската империя в последните й години.
Това няма да бъде последната книга за Распутин. Но със сигурност ще бъде запомнена като една от най-добре написаните.

[Steven Z. · Rating 4 out of 5]

The other day I heard a talking head quip that Steve Bannon was Donald Trump’s Rasputin. Recently I have brought myself up to speed on Mr. Bannon and there really does seem to be some similarities, i.e., access to a person with autocratic tendencies, belief in alternative reality and truth, but the rumors of debauchery do not really match up. All in all I decided that a read of Douglas Smith’s new biography RASPUTIN: FAITH, POWER AND THE TWILIGHT OF THE ROMANOVS was in order.

Grigory Yefimovich Rasputin’s life has produced numerous myths concerning his influence on the Romanovs; his religiosity, or lack of it; his sexual prowess, and his mystical hold on large segments of the Russian population. According to Smith these myths have been formulated and put forth in numerous biographies that have created an echo chamber for their constant retelling. Therefore, the question must be asked, why another biography? The year 1991 is the key in that the Soviet Union collapsed and as a result the Russian archives have become more accessible which Smith takes wonderful advantage of by uncovering a number of documents that reformulate many storylines in Rasputin’s vita. Smith cleverly points out that there really is “no” Rasputin without all the stories about him. Smith’s goal is to uncover and investigate the most important myths, and to a large degree he is remarkably successful. In achieving his goal Smith has written an almost encyclopedic narrative that seems to cover all aspects of his subject delivering the final word on every scrap of evidence in newspapers and memoirs. The book will become a wonderful research tool because of Smith’s prodigious research and facility with a number of languages. In creating his narrative, at times, Smith goes a little overboard the result is a book that is “overlong, overcrowded with names and details, serious and earnest (there are a few jokes), but a valuable corrective to the more sensational and fanciful biographies available in English.”*

The first thirty years of Rasputin’s life is like a black hole of which we know almost nothing, making it much easier to create myths. Rasputin was never formally educated and remained illiterate until his early adulthood. Up until the age of twenty eight, Rasputin appeared to be headed toward the life of a typical Siberian peasant; farming, church, and married with children. In 1897 he seemed to have experienced some sort of vision and began a series of pilgrimages. His religious quest appears sincere as local priests could not adequately answers his questions about God and religion. He became a “Strannik,” a holy wanderer which was very common in Tsarist Russia. Rasputin was atypical from most pilgrims in that he retained a home in Pokrovskoe, and was married with three children as he went about developing his own version of peasant religious orthodoxy. According to Smith, Rasputin’s years of wandering were his university education and he developed a broad knowledge of the Russian social order and a strong understanding of human psychology, with a special talent for reading people. Rasputin learned how to talk to people and he could “speak freely about Holy Scripture and the meaning of God in a way unlike the priests with their book learning. His language was direct, personal, unmistakably alive, and earthy filled with references to daily life and the beauty of the natural world.” (27) This talent goes a long way to explain how he developed his own personality cult.

Smith’s portrayal of Nicholas II and his German Tsarina, Alexandra is very perceptive and accurate. One of Alexandra’s major shortcomings was that she needed to control her privacy and shut out everyone but her immediate family. The feckless Nicholas could not get her to change her belief that the Russian people had an obligation to the Romanovs, not that the crown had an obligation to its subjects. The royal couple had a long history of dealing with “mystical types” before Rasputin arrived on the scene. The most important of which was Philippe Nazier-Vachot, or Monsieur Philippe a charlatan introduced to Alexandra by Militsa, who was married to a Grand Duke who was Nicholas’ cousin. These two are just the tip of the iceberg of the characters who believed in mysticism and the occult that Smith introduces us to that influence how the Tsar governed his people. Nicholas had a firm belief in the medieval notion of the mystical connection between the Tsar and the masses. Alexandra had been seeking a “holy man” before Rasputin arrived due to her own personal insecurity and perhaps awareness of her husband’s flaws which would undermine Nicholas’ power, prestige and effectiveness once Rasputin replaced Philippe. Alexandra needed to have blind trust in a spiritual advisor who spoke of higher truths and prophecies that satisfied her inner religiosity, and help instruct Nicholas on how to rule. This would lead to mistrust and machinations within the royal family, create intense gossip that tarnished the image of the monarchy, and repeated investigations into Rasputin life and actions as a number of people tried to open the Tsar’s eyes to what was transpiring right before his very eyes.

Smith captures the intensity of Alexandra’s loyalty to Rasputin no matter what evidence investigations by the Duma (Russian parliament created by the October Manifesto during the 1905 Revolution) or the Ohkrana (Tsarist Secret police) produced. Stories of lewdness, debauchery, rumors of unacceptable behavior on the part of Rasputin could not shake Alexandra’s confidence and dependence on her “friend.” Historians have conjectured on how Rasputin was able to manipulate the Tsarina. It has generally been accepted that it was due to his ability to help Tsarevitch Alexei who suffered from hemophilia. It is agreed that Rasputin was able to calm the boy and get him to relax which allowed a decrease in capillary blood flow and aid the healing process. There were a number of occasions when Alexei’s doctors made his condition worse by constant prodding, while Rasputin reassured the boy and calmed him. However, Alexandra’s neurotic insecurity needs outweigh Rasputin’s calming effect on Alexei in explaining Rasputin’s hold on the monarchy.

Smith takes the reader through the intricacies of eastern orthodoxy and the characters it produced as some priests support Rasputin, but eventually most do not and see him as the devil and an anti-Christ. The views of politicians and royal family members are examined and historical figures such as Prime Ministers Pytor Stolypin, Sergei Witte, and Vladimir Kokovstov are examined as they attempt to convince Nicholas of the effect Rasputin is having on the decline in popularity of his reign because of policy decisions that Alexandra’s “friend” influenced. The narrative unveils numerous plots some perpetuated by Rasputin and some by former acolytes that have turned against him to the point that some of these stories could be from an FX cable channel drama. The problem is many of them have a degree of truth and it reflects how low the Romanov dynasty had fallen in the eyes of its people.

Smith also delves into Rasputin’s battles with the press, the Duma and the Holy Synod. He provides careful analysis of the strategies that were designed to separate Rasputin from the royal family and exile him to his home village in Siberia. Official after official, religious leader upon religious leader, and family members all approached Nicholas about the damage that the rumors about Rasputin, including those linking him to an affair with Alexandra, were having on his reign, but he just brushed them off. A number of high officials would lose their positions as Nicholas removed them upon the advice of Rasputin, and these battles would seal the break between the Duma and the Tsar. Nicholas became increasingly frustrated as his officials could not control newspapers whose reporting was so damaging. This problem was exacerbated once Russia was at war with Germany. Once the war broke out Nicholas would leave St. Petersburg for the front a good deal of the time, leaving Alexandra alone under the influence of her “friend.” As war news worsened, more and more rumors were publicized that Rasputin and the Tsarina were working with the enemy. It wasn’t just peasants and soldiers who began believing these rumors as Smith points out but foreign diplomats who feared a separate peace between Russia and Germany, making a revolution against the Tsar a patriotic act.

Similar credence was given to the rumors of sexual scandals at court. It was said that the Tsarina was the mistress of Rasputin and the lesbian lover of Anna Vyrubova, her lady in waiting, who took part in orgies with both of them. Alexandra’s sexual corruption became a kind of metaphor for the diseased condition of the monarchy,” even though none of them had any bases in fact.** Smith provides unparalleled detail in all areas that the narrative ventures, which separates his biography from all others. But one must ask the question; is there too much detail, after all does the reader need to know the personalities, motivations, and actions of every scandal that existed?

The outbreak and conduct of World War I sealed the fate of Rasputin and the monarchy. Perhaps Nicholas II’s worst decision was to replace Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich as Commander and Chief. Rumors persisted at court that Nikolaevich was the center of a movement to replace the royal couple and they feared he was providing the enemy Nicholas’ movements at the front. However, once Nicholas II took command he was away from Alexandra a great deal of the time providing Rasputin greater access and would have greater influence on decisions. Smith argues against this premise as the malleable Nicholas would be under greater influence by his officers and staff who were critics of Rasputin and the Tsarina. As these events unfolded during the spring of 1915 newspaper attacks against Rasputin reached new heights of absurdity and with it the reputation of the monarchy reached new lows. As to whether Rasputin dominated the crown and possessed unlimited power, Smith maintains a large degree of that power only “existed in the minds of others.” (440)

The final third of the book deals with plots to kill Rasputin. Many believed and historians have conjectured as to whether Rasputin and Alexandra were German spies. Smith, as he does with many the myths he debunks puts this one to rest also arguing that there is no concrete evidence that Rasputin and Alexandra were tools of the Hohenzollerns. Smith then details more scandals and the ministerial merry go round that Nicholas’ government became during the war, as those who opposed Rasputin were replaced by people he approved of. This aggravated a number of people, most prominent of which was Price Felix Yusopov who organized a scheme to assassinate Rasputin, and with his co-conspirators carried out the murder during the evening of December 16-17, 1916.

The book is brought to a conclusion discussing the investigation of Rasputin’s murder and setting aside the myths associated with it. Further, Smith explores the collapse of the Romanov dynasty which resulted in a wave of propaganda depicting Rasputin as the incarnation of evil and that the Russian people were finally set free. Smith is to be credited with the most comprehensive and up to date biography of Rasputin. At times difficult to plow through because of its detail, however, if you seek knowledge pertaining to Nicholas and Alexandra’s special “friend,” Smith’s effort will satiate you.

PS. Rasputin was not as mean spirited as Steve Bannon seems to be!

*Orlando Figes. “A Very Close Friend of the Family,” New York Review of Books, December 8, 2016.
** Figes.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Man, A Myth, A Legend.

Much has been said over the years about Gregory Rasputin. Whispers, rumours and salacious gossip. A man who is infamous and has found his way into popular culture as a villain, most recently as the bad guy in The Kings Man, the 2021 film. They are still writing about him and the public are still eating it up. However, who was this strange figure from the wilderness of peasant Siberia who scaled to the very heights of power and influence in Tsarist Russia? Douglas Smith accepts the challenge of this very difficult question and sets to answer it.

Smith does a great job in delivering a well rounded view of Rasputin. This is a story of a man, but also of a country in the last 15 years or so before it’s catastrophic and sudden death. The backdrop of Russian society and politics is excellently explained. How the aristocracy down to the workers saw and perceived Rasputin’s relationship with the Imperial Family and those around him is painted clearly. Most importantly the myths are opened up and challenged. These include Rasputin’s objectives, his relationship with the church and money, who he had sexual relations with and also his death.

Rasputin was a man who loved sex and women and was clearly overbearing with many of them. However, he was deeply religious and had little regard for money. He has enemies, who would never let go of their hatred for him. He was also able to unite monarchists, liberals, leftists and revolutionaries into their contempt for him. Ultimately his relationship with the Tsarina was disastrous for Russia, as much as the First World War itself. He did wield influence over them in the end, especially as the family was so desperate to save the mortality ill Tsarevich Alexei.

Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dimitri and Iliodor all feature and great portraits of them are built. It also dispels some of the myths around these men (for example Yusupov or Dimitri were not lovers of Rasputin) which I have read on other great works on the period.

Overall this is a great book and is essential reading for the Russian history enthusiast. Be aware that much is not known about the first 30 years of Rasputins life and the story only really begins when most of his life is behind him. However, this is what you came here for in the first place so it isn’t a worry.

[Lukas Evan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not sure why reading a 700 page biography of Rasputin seemed like a good idea.

[Nancy Oakes · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finished at 3 a.m.; I'll post soon. This just might be the most comprehensive study of Rasputin that's out there, and I do mean comprehensive, but my tired brain isn't up to thought right now.

[Leah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Saint or sinner...

Douglas Smith starts his biography of Rasputin by laying out the two competing claims about him that were current during his life and still rumble on today: that he was the 'mad monk', the 'holy devil', debauched and wicked, practising profane religious rites, and with an unhealthy grip on the Tsar; or, that he was a true holy man and visionary, so much so that some groups within the Orthodox church are attempting to have him made a saint.

He begins by telling us what little is known of Rasputin's early years in a peasant village in Siberia. Smith shows how difficult it is to sift through the layers of later accounts to get to the truth, especially about someone who lived in a largely illiterate milieu. Some accounts describe him as dirty and uncouth, a thief and a horse-thief, but Smith says the original records don't support these claims. What is true is that he married and had several children, of whom many died. In his late twenties, he took to going off on pilgrimages, apparently a common occurrence in the Russia of that time. However, he looked after his family in financial terms and continued to return to his home village throughout his life. He gradually acquired a reputation as a starets, a kind of religious elder sought out for spiritual guidance.

At this early stage, the book is very well written. Notes are kept out of the way at the back, so that the main text maintains a good flow without too many digressions into the minutiae of sources.

Smith then takes the tale to the Romanov court, giving the background to the marriage and relationship of Nicholas and Alexandra. He gives a fascinating picture of the various strange religious sects that grew up in late 19th century Russia, and how susceptible the Romanovs and high society in general were to the latest 'holy man' to come along. Rasputin was not the first visionary to be taken up by the Royal couple. But because of the timing, when the state was already cracking, war was on its way and revolutionary fervour was building, he became a focus of much of what people despised about the ruling class.

Unfortunately, once these excellent introductory chapters are out of the way, the rest of the book gets bogged down in a morass of rather repetitive detail. It tends to take the format of Smith telling us about reports of some unsavoury episode in Rasputin's life, and then going back over it to show that either it couldn't be true or that it can't be proven. As is always a problem with this period of Russian history, there's a constantly changing cast of characters near the throne, so that names came and went without me feeling I was getting to know much about them. When the book concentrates specifically on the Romanovs it feels focused, and I did get a good impression of how detached they were from the Russian people's opinion of them, especially Alexandra. But Rasputin himself felt ever vaguer as every story about him was shown to be at best misleading and at worst untrue. I felt I learned far more about who Rasputin wasn't than about who he was. Maybe that was the point, but it made for unsatisfactory reading from my perspective.

There is a lot of information about the various efforts to persuade the Romanovs to give Rasputin up. For years he was under investigation and being tracked by the authorities, while the newspapers were printing ever more salacious details about his alleged debauchery. Again Smith goes into far too much detail; for example, on one occasion actually listing the names of the eight secret service men who were detailed to monitor him – information that surely should have been relegated to the notes if it is indeed required at all. And again, far more time is spent debunking false newspaper stories than detailing the true facts.

I found this a frustrating read. Smith's research is obviously immense and the book does create a real impression of the strange, brittle society at the top of Russia and its desperate search for some kind of spiritual meaning or revelation. But the same clarity doesn't apply to Rasputin – I felt no nearer knowing the true character of the man at the end as at the beginning; if anything, I felt he had become even more obscure. Smith often seems like something of an apologist for him, although he never openly says so. But when, for example, he treats seriously the question of whether Rasputin was actually a genuine faith healer, then I fear the book began to lose credibility with me. The question of whether Rasputin was a debauched lecher living off his rich patrons or a holy man sent by God to save Russia seemed relatively easy to answer, and I found the book tended to overcomplicate the issue in an attempt to portray both sides equally. A bit like giving equal prominence to climate change deniers as to the 97% of scientists who know it to be true.

The book has won awards, so clearly other people have been more impressed by it than I was. I do think it's an interesting if over-long read, but more for what it tells us about the last days of the Romanovs than for what it reveals about Rasputin. For me, the definitive biography of this uniquely intriguing life remains to be written.

www.fictionfanblog.wordpress.com

[Kayla A. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is not successful as a biography of Rasputin, but works as a broader exploration of the context in Russia that saw to Rasputin's rise and fall. This aspect of the work was fascinating: how high-society Russians lost their faith in the Orthodox church and thus turned to "holy fools," how the peasants flocked to listen to mad monks and engage in sexual escapades to banish the demons of their flesh. I think Smith succeeded in showing that, in such circumstances, Rasputin was less a man and more a physical manifestation of Russia's spiritual and political turning point.

However, I do think Smith could have gotten that point across while still exploring the actual life and character of Grigory Rasputin (after all, that is what a biography is supposed to do). Smith devotes chapter upon chapter to hearsay, describing what acquaintances and the press said about Rasputin without really diving in to the words and actions of the man himself. He spends a good deal of time rebutting fanciful or deceitful accounts as to Rasputin's behavior, while offering only minimal analysis as to what the truth might actually be. While Smith made it clear repeatedly that, in his opinion, Rasputin was not a khylst (a religious sect involving ritualistic dancing and, purportedly, mass orgies), I am still not exactly sure what the man's religious beliefs really were in their substance. Moreover, important themes such as Rasputin's possible sectarian beliefs are not taken up at once, but are instead touched on a little here and then 300 pages later, so that I found the whole work to be choppy and disconnected. The book most certainly could have been much shorter, especially as there was not very much to it. It is less a biography of Rasputin than a chronicle of what everyone in Russian society had to say about him, and will likely leave you with multiple questions about what actually did happen after telling you what certainly didn't happen.

[Rennie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of important myth-busting but I don't feel much closer to knowing anything about who he actually was as opposed to who he wasn't. And in between the interesting bits, and especially after the first perfect, completely engrossing 200 or so pages, there was so much tedious, unrelated stuff. A lot of it was for setting context but it didn't really involve Rasputin. It was all tangentially related but just kind of plodding in the storytelling. And so many names. So, so many names. And the Boney M song in my head every day for the month I was reading it. I'm glad to have read it but also glad it's over.

[Carolyn Walsh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The essential book for the historian and scholar researching the life and influence of Rasputin and the end of the Romanov dynasty. 5 stars

A formidable book (of over 800 pages)for the more casual reader of historic biographies. 3 Stars

It relates the facts of Rasputin's life and relationships, but also describes incidents and conversations which the author concludes are partly or entirely false, and details rumors circulating at the time which were exaggerations or falsehoods. Some were deliberately circulated to undermine the royal family.

It was interesting to learn that Rasputin's influence on the imperial family was
even greater than believed. Through Empress Alexandra he usually had his way with political, military, legal and religious appointments, dismissals, banishments, and punishments. Alexandra had a history of being under the spell of Mystics, clairvoyants and religious fanatics and was easily influenced by the arrival of Rasputin at the palace. Czar Nicholas was weak willed, and dominated by his wife who passed on Rasputin's wishes as pleas and orders. He usually fell in line to please Alexandra.

An exhaustive amount of research went into this book. A cast of hundreds of characters made it confusing to me. There was a collection of remarkable photos, political cartoons and posters.

[Chrissie]

This or Rasputin: The Untold Story or The Rasputin File? I have chosen to read Rasputin: The Untold Story first. I do wish Robert K. Massie would write a book just on Rasputin.

[Ruth Collier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't imagine that there's a more comprehensive or more thoroughly researched book on Rasputin out there. By it's nature a large chunk of the material is rumours and gossip, but the author comments on the reliability of the various sources and notes how the gossip itself shapes the story as the Russian people act on what they believe to be true.
I found the middle section of the book to be slow going, there were so many different political and religious figures and their correspondence, plots etc but this is just a personal observation, I certainly wouldn't expect the author to cut back on details to make more of a palatable 'story'. The photos are excellent, although sometimes I'm the text references are made to certain photos or caricatures and it's slightly disappointing to see that they aren't all included.
But small grumbles aside, this book fully lives up to what the cover promises.

[miuccia · Rating 2 out of 5]

2/5 🌟🌟

Let's be short and sweet, shall we?

This is a fantastic TOME, I wouldn't even classify it as a book. But I also wouldn't classify this as a biography? It just feels like Mythbusters: Rasputin Edition.

Smith goes a looong way to debunk every single myth and assumption that surrounds the figure of Rasputin (I was shocked and sad to know that he never truly sang 'In the Dark of the Night', what a waste...), and how he was a key factor in all the changes happening in Russia. But I didn't truly feel like he ever discussed Rasputin's characters? Sure, he wasn't the man of myth that people whispered about - and still do - but he STILL did some pretty strange things. That were never touched upon.

I would also have liked to have seen it from a woman's perspective. I feel like a lot was excused, and even though Smith's goal was to shine a light on truth, I honestly didn't really think what I saw was good. I sometimes truly felt disgusted, and I think it would have benefited the book to have a woman investigate Rasputin's character.

Maybe in another tome.

[Simona · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a comprehensive record of Rasputin's whole life, with the focus on his relationship to the imperial family. Biography is based on a different sources and documents, and where is a source vague or unreliable author explicitly draw attention to it. Probably the most thoroughly researched book on Rasputin I've read so far and essential reading for all who are interested in how the Siberian peasant managed to become the most powerful/influential man in Russia. The book is an excellent answer to the question - what is true and what is myth.

[Hillary · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is less for the casual interest in Rasputin and more for the here is every single thing you could ever want to know, and why its true. It's an incredibly researched book. It must have close to 200 pages in foot notes. Its a great, very heavy and dense in parts which makes sense for the content. This period in Russian history is so interesting, and it's amazing to see this very intimate relationship between the Romanovs and Rasputin, and how - Alexandra especially - mysticism was still such a large part of the reign even though this is well after Einsteins Theory of Relativity, way after the civil war etc. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for something to emotionally commit to for awhile, it really looks at the darker side of human nature, politics, and how much power comes from talk, and ideas where in reality Rasputin was just a man. I would love to read it again with a flow chart, some of the names become hard to keep track of, who was related to who in what way, and how their alliances change over the years. It feels like fiction, some great epic, though of course it is not. Smith lays out the facts, gives his occasional opinion, but really divulges the facts of Rasputin, and not the huge stories that have racked up around him over the last 100 years. Read this if you have any interest in this period of Russian history, or Russian history in general !

[Grumpus · Rating 3 out of 5]

Even after listening to this audiobook, it is still hard for me to draw any conclusions about Rasputin—who he was and his objectives. Was he a simple peasant, religious icon, or master manipulator? One thing for certain, he had a creepy demeanor and was a lecherous womanizer with an insatiable sexual appetite. *shudders* He would tell his female followers that one gets to know the soul through the body. Get the inference? *shudders again*

I know there is the whole Romanov story and his influence over the royal family especially the tsarina Alexandra, but since I don’t do reviews and only comment about what I thought of the book and/or its impact on me, this was of lesser importance. One lucky prediction the that Alexi would not die of hemophilia was evidence enough for the tsarina that Rasputin was special. There was also rumor and innuendo that Rasputin had more than a priestly relationship with her. Given that she wore the pants in the family, it’s not that hard to grasp the royal family’s loyalty to their so called “friend” despite the tsar’s wishes.

Drama and intrigue is not unusual in royal courts but this seemed 100-fold stranger. I can’t grasp how he came to such influence give his behavior. For me, it all comes back to creepy.

[Jarrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a surprisingly well-written and enjoyable read. It is expertly documented and linear.

Part 1 - We learn of Rasputin's beginning in Siberia from his birth place in Pokrovskoe and eventually end up in the Capitol (St. Petersburg). We learn of the influence of Religion and the tragedy of the tsar having a hemophiliac son. He doesn't really enter into the book formally until about 50 pages in when he's calling himself a starets (religious title). By know we know about prophecy and how religious leaders and spiritual advisers are now able to influence Nicholas and Alexandra.

Part 2 - 1905-1909: Rasputin has major influence within the kingly chambers. He's starting to rise in influence and prominence within society. There are investigations and his daily happenings seem to be getting more and more strange.

Part 3 - Scandals 1910-1911. Lots of movement here and writings of inappropriate behavior. We are also brought along to see more of the day to day interactions of Rasputin with the public. There are more investigations and mischievous behaviors reported. Amongst all of this, he makes a pilgrimage to the holy land.

Part 4 - We start to see much controversy here. There is rumors of miracles and a great deal of scandal. This part has likely been the most interesting so far. Rasputin is present when Alexei is "healed" for a time, but doesn't actually happen to have done anything. There is some modern day beliefs on prayer and healing injected into the story, but much ado about nothing. There is a link between faith and healing - but it's not because science can figure it out. If faith could be proven, we wouldn't need it. It is proven (by the author anyway) that Rasputin isn't and wasn't a khlyst. Then the first real attempt on Rasputin's life takes place. There are many players, almost a domestic scandal, yet in the throws of recovery, War breaks out - the next Part.

Part 5 - World War I takes stage. This is the most interesting chapter so far as it has more action and conspiracies regarding Rasputin's day to day life and how his carried himself. The incident at Yar takes first place here and the author does a great job of explaining the facts and the evidence around the supposed event. There's also starting to be evidence of the power of media and propaganda. Things don't have to be true if they are repeated enough. The first lights of the downfall of the Monarchy also become evident. Nicholas' failed attempts to win the war and he weakness as a leader of the army and the nation start to take stage. You see Rasputin come to the front and "take the reigns" of the government (even if only the minds of the crazy). The last year should be interesting to say the least...

Part 6 - The last year. This is easily the best chapter of the book and most interesting. The scandals, the planning and the act itself of the murder of Rasputin. The author does a great job of tying in the activities of this time period along with the downfall of the Romanovs. The attempt at cover-up was lame, but alas it seems unnecessary as no one was held to account. Even in death, however it is amazing how the empress held on to the idea of Rasputin and what he stood for as a figure. The power he held was really amazing considering how he really never "did" anything. The crazy part is the myth and legend and how it grew out of really nothing. There was mystique and intrigue around the events of the murder, but to me it's amazing how what really happened changed throughout the decades to become "He was poisoned, shot, stabbed (don't know where this one came from) and thrown in the river to die of drowning". This is what I was told in high school history. This narrative is easily debunked by the author through witnesses and first-hand sources. All anyone had to do was look and report on the actual evidence instead of looking for a story.

Part 7 - Aftermath 1917-1918. This is a brief section demonstrating the investigation into the death of Rasputin. We examine the crime scene, look at any limited and relevant evidence through what eventually happened with his body. We look at the key figures in the aftermath and what became of them, including his daughters. The author also draws a direct line from Rasputin's death to the end of the Romanov's. A sordid affair to say the least.

This is an amazingly written biography that will hold your interest throughout. There is a lot of sexual content as that is one of the long-lasting surviving tales revolving around Rasputin. The author does a great job of debunking several myths around Rasputin as a figure and shows how his influence and ultimate demise lead to the ending of the Russian monarchy. Well worth the read for anyone interested in history, be it Russian history or other. Rasputin comes alive on the pages and you can see his daily activities and influence in history.

[Петър Стойков · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ако вече сме чели основното от живота и делото на Распутин в малко или много повествователна форма, може да ни стане интересно и да поискаме да се запознаем с подробностите.

Дъглас Смит прави изключително задълбочено описание на живота на Распутин от всички известни за него данни, писма, статии и книги. Заедно с това, от книгата извира и описание на живота и политиката на Руската империя и руския царски двор от периода.

Ироничното е, че точно когато Руската империя започва да се индустриализира и да дръпва напред икономически и социално, точно тогава започват най-големите брожения и недоволство от населението. Може би защото допреди това всички са били жестоко потиснати и са мислели само за следващия залък хляб, но щом са успели да поемат глътка въздух, тая първа глътка я използват за да крещят недоволството си.

Това оцветява и ставащото там през периода, което е колкото абсурдно, толкова и поучително за бъдещите поколения.

Както казах, книгата е много подробна и суховата, така че е дълга и ако не сте по-запалени от мен да разберете случващото се, доскучава.

[Brodie Rake]

A fantastic biography on one of history’s most macabre figures. Reads like a horror novel wrapped in a political thriller. Myth often eclipses reality in this surreal tale of an empires decline. I certainly saw parallels to today, echo from the collapse of the Romanov family. Scandals and disillusion are exhibited on full display in Douglas Smiths well researched biography. He is able to balance history and narrative extremely well here, and for such an epic size it never left me bored. Would love to one day adapt this story into a film of some kind. It’s chilling stuff!

[Michael · Rating 5 out of 5]

Meticulously researched, elegantly written biography of the infamous Rasputin, the so called "Mad Monk/Holy Devil" whose influence (or at least his perceived influence) over Nicholas II and Alexandra is often cited as one of the main causes of the the collapse of the Romanov dynasty and Russia's descent into revolution and civil war. Smith's research is exhaustive and he provides us with not only a comprehensive and detailed account of Rasputin's life, but also examines the "mythology" of Rasputin - how it was created, by whom, and for what purpose. Consequently it is possible that a reader with a casual or passing interest in the subject matter may find the book a little tedious in places, but if you are looking for a work that thoroughly and dispassionately examines a wealth of evidence to provide a balanced, richly detailed portrait of the life and death of Rasputin and of Russia in the early twentieth century, I would highly recommend this book.

[Nissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another great book on early 20th century Russian history. It’s massive, but I couldn’t put it down.

[Ladz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to the audiobook
Content warning: Alcoholism, rape allegations, religious persecution, murder, slander, propaganda, rural poverty

Once again, this nonfiction read comes from being thoroughly entertained by Last Podcast on the Left’s breakdown of the Russian mystic’s biography. Dear reader, there is even more to it than can be covered in a 4-part podcast series.

Douglas Smith’s account of the self-proclaimed holy man not only covers the isolated facts of his life, but also goes into contextualizing both Russian culture at the time and the myths and attitudes that contributed to his notoriety.

Told through letters, newspaper articles, diary entries, and other primary sources, this very long, captivating read ultimately leaving it up to the reader to piece together the truth about this absolutely ridiculous man. It’d be foolish to say that Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin did nothing wrong, but the antichrist, he was not.

What grabbed me most was how Rasputin opens with how much we know of Rasputin only exists because of the myriad stories about the man. From his agrarian life in Prokrovskoye, Siberia, the rumors were numerous. Smith puts so much effort into getting at the truth but also acknowledging with the ease of how they proliferated. So much of it had to do with the numerous attempts at character assassination before getting into the actual assassination attempts. The way it all unfolds had me grabbing the sides of my head and groaning at just how poorly almost everyone seemed to be at doing their jobs. From the Tsar to the future assassins, it’s a giant mess of having a common goal with zero cooperation and barely a foundation upon which to stake claims.

The massive core cast of characters from the Russian nobility are about as fascinating as the eponymous figure at this history’s center. From personal slights to political scandals to increasingly audacious power grabs, this story truly has it all. Smith put a lot of effort into not assigning people roles as characters in a fictional work, and it only enhances the work. It also contributes to the 800+ pages, but no space is wasted.

This book is a must-read for those wanting to learn about the fall of the Romanovs and the lead-up to the Bolshevik revolution.

[Sarah Furger · Rating 4 out of 5]

A biography that is thorough and well-researched while remaining readable is quite a feat, more so when its subject is surrounded by myth and rumor. I learned so much!

[Lukas Stock · Rating 4 out of 5]

You already know if a 700 page biography of Rasputin is worth reading to you or not.

[Aeryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 I really liked the research done on this. the author's personal beliefs were displayed a bit too much which tended to lead the reader.

[Ana · Rating 5 out of 5]

Truly amazing scope of research, and I do deeply feel that I've been shown the strokes broad and fine of what make up the picture of Rasputin and his Russia.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

W ciekawym momencie polskiej historii czytałem ostatnie rozdziały. Cud czy nie?