russia

Long at odds with what I assumed to be the authors' approach to the Romanovs, and not 100% convinced of some assumptions made in "The Fate of the Romanovs," I would be completely remiss not to stand up and salute them for the remarkable level research and thoughtfulness that went into their work. King and Wilson have striven to take a fresh hard look beneath the overwhelming layers of well-established myth, erroneous assumptions and outright misinformation surrounding the end of the Romanovs. And it ain't pretty. There is nothing to admire about Nicholas, and Alexandra was not a wonderful mother, especially to her daughters. Their imprisonment was not in some important respects what we've always been told it was. The personal repercussions of the Romanov's downfall on several of the family members and their retainers turns out to be surprisingly different from what we had assumed previously, whereas the murder is revealed to have been every bit as gut-wrenching as most of us imagined. Indeed, all through the book, previously unknown or overlooked details are brought to light and introduced into the context, often masterfully disabusing one of long-held erroneous notions.

Whether I agree or not with every path they took along the way to the book's completion, I applaud Mr. King and Ms. Wilson for telling the truth, as they see it, to the best of their remarkable abilities. They have indisputably raised the benchmark on scholarly treatment of this subject, and those of us who disagree with this or that point of theirs will have to do an enormous amount of research in order to properly challenge the authors' painstakingly-earned credibility.

I think this book was an excellent read. The authors did an wonderful job in every aspect of this book. The research was very detailed and explicit, and the writting was superb. It definitely left me wanting to learn more about the subject.

More than an account of a royal family massacred. Through arduous research and historical evidence the authors humanize the Romanov family and their infamous experience. A must read for Russian history buffs.