A new biography of one of history’s most disturbing, dubious masterminds, showing how a Siberian peasant, through his seduction of the imperial household, contributed to the collapse of the greatest autocracy in the world.
Engaging ... It is hard to find anything new to say about Rasputin, but this story of credulous, out-of-touch monarchs steering their country into disaster never loses its sinister appeal.
A deeply researched examination ... Mr. Beevor relies on these reports, as well as other testimonies and memoirs, to create a catalog of drunken debauchery and mayhem ascribed to the mad monk. It is easy to lose track of which stories to believe and which to discount.
Beevor makes no claim to have uncovered any great revelations ... With his characteristically sharp eye for telling detail, extracts enough gems to decorate a whole Romanov party dress ... Despite the crowded historiographical field, Beevor finds a fresh angle. His thesis is that the myth was actually a key part of Rasputin’s political and ultimately historical impact ... An exceptionally well-sourced, morally serious and often darkly comic account.
