So riveting was Massie's style that I was catapulted into horror as for the first time, I read a gripping account of how WWI broke out - and appalled at the absolute STUPIDITY behind that. Yet through it all, Massie continues to paint a picture of a leader whose only flaw was he was a kind and gentle man with a deep love for his wife. Yeah, I am sure you could say plenty about the mistakes Nicholas II made - and I am sure you can say plenty about the mistakes all other leaders have made during times of trouble, but Nicholas would have been a fine leader if he hadn't been destined to be Tsar in troubled times. Massie's depiction of the other events which led to the demise of the Romanov's is eqully gripping, giving one an overall appreciation of all the factors which contributed to the collapse of the Russian Empire -something which they don't appear to have totally recovered from in nearly 100 years...
My only complaint (and hence the 4 stars not 5) was Massie really just described the historically accepted points of view and didn't mention some of the contradictions and facts which go against the sensationalised story. I found this occurred particularly with Rasputin, and because I questioned the facts surrounding Rasputin, you can't help but wonder what other little details he left in the life of Nicholas and Alexandra. However, that aside, this is such a beautifully written historical biography, that missing facts or not, most of it is true and this book should be read by everyone just to gain a clearer picture of one of the truly more dynamic and mysterious bits of history in the timeline of humanity!
Massie's Nicholas and Alexandra emerge as rather sad and pathetic characters, out of touch with reality and hopelessly unqualified for the role thrust upon them. Massie's fascinating thesis is that the Russian revolution may have been brought about by a haemophilia gene passed along from queen Victoria. That is probably an extremely romanticised view of history. A more likely truth is that the tragic end of Tsarist Holy Russia was an accident waiting to happen. A fragile system built on fragile people. That fragility more than anything else is what comes across from reading these pages.