Rasputin
A Short Life
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3.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
For historical aficionados and curious readers alike, this is the perfect ‘short life’ - gripping and hilariously funny, this biography sheds much-needed light on the life of the Russian icon: Grigory Rasputin.
Grigory Rasputin, Siberian peasant-turned-mystic and court sage, was as fascinating as he was unfathomable. He played the role of the simple man, eating with his fingers and boasting, ‘I don’t even know the ABC’. But, as the only person able to relieve the symptoms of hemophilia in the Tsar’s heir Alexei, he gained almost hallowed status within the Imperial court.
During the last decade of his life, he and his band of “little ladies” came to symbolize all that was decadent, corrupt and remote about the Imperial Family, especially when it was rumored that he was not only shaping Russian policy during the First World War, but also enjoying an intimate relationship with the Empress...
Rasputin’s role in the downfall of the tsarist regime is beyond dispute. But who was he really? Prophet or rascal? A “breath of rank air...who blew away the cobwebs of the Imperial Palace’’, as Beryl Bainbridge put it; or a dangerous deviant?
In this riveting and eye-opening short biography, Frances Welch turns her inimitable wry gaze on one of the great mysteries of Russian history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Infamous mystic or man of God? Ever since Grigory Rasputin gained the favor of the Russian Imperial Court, his life has captured the imagination of the masses he has since been portrayed in films, books, and music and many have debated the powers he claimed to possess. Welch (The Russian Court at Sea) offers a narrative chronology of Rasputin's life, following his violent youth and spiritual growth into the open debauchery with his "little ladies" of his adult life. Yet Rasputin maintained a baffling power over people and events many predictions of his came true. He was "our Friend" to the tsar and family, and it was even rumored that he had relations with the tsarina (which the tsar promptly ignored). But Rasputin also had many enemies, both religious and political . His stance against entering WWI created a rift that divided the royal family, and soon he was seen as a threat that could not be overlooked thus, he was murdered. Welch doesn't provide an answer to the question of who Rasputin really was facts are elusive and rumors run rampant but she still tells a good story with her delightful, evocative writing. Photos.
