Definitive Answers About What Happened to the Romanovs | The Romanovs: the Final Chapter

The Final chapter...or is it? | The Romanovs: the Final Chapter | Robert K. Massie

books:


	• The Romanovs: the Final Chapter Robert K. Massie Ballantine Books, 1996 - 320 pages average customer review:based on 42 reviews view larger image
	for more information click here

highly recommended

Fascinating

This book begins with the execution of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia and his family.
From there the author recounts the latter-day effort, abetted by DNA testing, to find and identify the remains of the victims. And he discusses at great length the women, particularly the one known as Anna Anderson, who claimed to be Grand Duchess Anastasia, the Tsar's youngest daughter. The remains of the Tsar's son and one daughter, whose identity is disputed, were never found -- hence the Anastasia legend.
This is a true-life mystery story in the finest tradition. My only quibble is that significant portions of this work first appeared in the New Yorker magazine, where they obviously were subjected to that publication's procrustean editing process. Other portions of the book escaped the condescending, self-conscious editing that characterizes so much of the New Yorker's non-fiction. There is one author but two styles. See whether you can detect the dividing line.

for more information click here

Definitive Answers About What Happened to the Romanovs

In this book, the author totally convinces the reader that the Romanovs were indeed murdered and their bones positively identified through scientific means. The author also proves to the reader that Anna Anderson, who posed as the duchess Anastasia, was an impostor. There is also some interesting information on living Romanov heirs who believe that the monarchy will be reestablished in Russia. I would recommend this book to those interested in Russian history.

The Final chapter...or is it?

This is a book you expected Massie to write.....since Nicholas & Alexandra was written in (I think) 1969, an update since 1991 was critical. It gives you an idea what was being discovered in DNA research and proving the bones found were who they were. Its a book a Romanov observer should have, or at least read to glean the information from. Worth it, for sure.

for more information click here

An Appropriate Conclusion

In 1967 Robert K. Massie published his magnificent Nicholas and Alexandra, a biography of the last Tsar and Empress of Russia. That book was for me, like many others, a transformative experience, leading to a lifelong interest in Russian history and royal biography. At the time Massie wrote the Cold War still raged and there was little chance that anything more would ever be known about the final days and resting place of the Imperial Family.

Then in the 1990s came the end of the Cold War and the beginning of DNA research. With the Soviet Union dead and buried, researchers began to probe the area around Ekaterinburg, trying to discover the last remains of the Romanovs. Bodies were discovered which appeared to be those of the last Tsar and his family and servants, but proof was needed. Massie does an excellent job describing the search for and discovery of the remains, and then outdoes himself in clearly and comprehensively describing the technicalities of DNA reseach. Samples were taken from living relatives of the Romanovs, and DNA matches were made with five of the recovered bodies. The servants who died with the Romanovs were also identified, but the Tsar's only son Alexis and one of his younger daughters remained missing.

Massie describes these events clearly and concisely. He also includes an interesting section dealing with the Romanov relatives and their family feud over who is and who is not entitled to call themselves a Romanov. While this work does not have the same emotional reach of Nicholas and Alexandra, it still fascinates.

In 2007 two bodies were discovered near Ekaterinburg which appear to be those of Alexis and his missing sister. Once their identity is definitely established and the two bodies are allowed to join their parents and siblings in their new, more appropriate resting place in St. Petersburg, I hope that Massie will provide us with a new, absolutely final chapter in the Romanov saga.

for more information click here

Good but out of date

This is a very interesting book (of course Robert Massie is a great writer and historian) but it is very out of date. At the end of the book, a final resting place had not been determined for the remains of Tsar Nicholas and his family (they are now buried in St. Petersburg in the Peter and Paul Fortress with the rest of the tsars who followed Peter the Great). Also, the remains of the Tsar's son and heir Alexis had not been found and one of the daughters was missing. Now these remains have been found. Would be great to have a new edition with updated events and information.

for more information click here

"MASTERFUL."
--The Washington Post Book World
"RIVETING . . . UNFOLDS LIKE A DETECTIVE STORY."
--Los Angeles Times Book Review
In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow mass grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar room where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. But were these the bones of the Romanovs? And if these were their remains, where were the bones of the two younger Romanovs supposedly murdered with the rest of the family? Was Anna Anderson, celebrated for more than sixty years in newspapers, books, and film, really Grand Duchess Anastasia?
The Romanovs: The Final Chapter provides answers, describing in suspenseful detail the dramatic efforts in post-Communist Russia to discover the truth. This unique story, written by Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie, presents a colorful panorama of contemporary characters, illuminating the major scientific dispute between Russian experts and a team of Americans, including Drs. William Maples and Michael Baden--fiercely antagonistic forensic experts whose findings, along with those of DNA scientists from Russia, America, and Great Britain, all contributed to solving one of the greatest mysteries of the twentieth century.
"AN ADMIRABLE SCIENTIFIC THRILLER."
--The New York Times Book Review
"COMPELLING . . . A FASCINATING ACCOUNT."
--Chicago Tribune
"A MASTERPIECE OF INVESTIGATIVE REPORTING."
--San Francisco Examiner & Chronicle

for more information click here