The Fall of the Romanovs: Political Dreams and Personal Struggles in a Time of Revolution (Annals of Communism Series)

The compelling and poignant story of the arrest, captivity, and execution of the last tsar of Russia and his family during the revolution of 1917-1918 has been recounted-and romanticized-for decades. Now a new book explores the full range of events and reveals the thoughts, perceptions, and judgments of the individuals involved-Nicholas and Alexandra, their children, and the men who guarded and eventually killed them. "An extraordinary book. It is essential reading for anyone interested in Western history."-Francine du Plessiz Gray, New York Times Book Review "Steinberg and Khrustalev have achieved that rarest of things: they have produced a work of outstanding scholarship which is also an unputdownable read. It is not only the unwritten sequel to The Brothers Karamazov. As a bona fide 'royals' book, it is also the perfect antidote to Andrew Morton."-Niall Ferguson, The Sunday Times "Useful . . . lucid analysis. . . . Contains several important never-before-published accounts of the assassination."-Joseph Finder, Washington Post Book World "[The] book presents a portrait of the political exigencies and passions that determined the family's fate. The documents themselves are of primary interest, but the judicious tone of the introductions to each section offers a welcome contrast to the overheated speculation that has long surrounded the last Tsar."-Susan Jacoby, Newsday Mark D. Steinberg teaches history at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Vladimir M. Khrustalev is historian-archivist at the State Archive of the Russian Federation.