The last days of the Romanovs Tragedy at Ekaterinburg

Since the end of the Soviet Union, details about the murder of the Russian royal family in 1918 have emerged and inspired several accounts of the killings. Author Rappaport, a talented British writer of narrative history, telescopes the post-abdication story of the Romanovs into the two weeks preceding their deaths, during which the final elements of decision in Moscow and execution in the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg fell into place. As storyteller, Rappaport skillfully contrasts the ignorance of the family members of their impending doom with the preparations of the Bolsheviks on the scene. She renders astute personality portraits of the seven members of the family, noting especially the beauty of the daughters that, to a degree, underlies popular interest in and horror about what happened to the Romanovs. Such sentimentality was alien to Bolsheviks waging class war, however, and Rappaport describes the chain of command from Lenin to the firing squad with responsibility-fixing emphasis. Unavoidably ghastly in her last pages, Rappaport, whose research included visits to the murder and burial sites, has produced an emotionally powerful work of history.--Taylor, Gilbert Copyright 2009 Booklist

Synthesizing a variety of sources, British historian Rappaport (Joseph Stalin) details the Romanovs' last two weeks, imprisoned in a cramped private house in Ekaterinburg, a violently anti-czarist industrial city in the Ural Mountains where Nicholas II; his wife, Alexandra; and their five children were executed on July 17, 1918. The czar's rescue was a low priority for the Allies, and several escape plots by Russian monarchists came to naught. A lax guard was replaced by a rigorous new regime on July 4, headed by Yakov Yurovsky, whose family's impoverished Siberian exile had fueled his burning hatred for the imperial family, and his ruthless assistant and surrogate son, Grigory Nikulin. How the last czar and his family died was one of Russia's best-kept secrets for decades, and Rappaport spares none of the gory details of the panicked bloodbath (it took an entire clip of bullets to finish off the czarevitch because an undergarment sewn with jewels protected the boy's torso) and botched burial of the corpses. Although parts of the Romanov saga are familiar and Rappaport's sympathy for the czar often seems naOve, this is an absorbing, lucid and authoritative work. 16 pages of photos. (Feb. 3) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Using a wide range of primary sources in English and Russian, Rappaport (Queen Victoria: A Biographical Companion), a British author who specializes in Russian studies, concentrates on the final weeks of the Romanov family's house arrest before their execution in Ekaterinburg in July 1918. Weaving in political and historical context, the author deftly conveys the tense and claustrophobic atmosphere in the "House of Special Purpose," as the family's place of detention was euphemistically called. The most engaging sections of the narrative are those that delve into the personalities of the family, showing them as flawed but sympathetic. The author details how their utter devotion to one another, their country, and their religion sustained them in their final days and contrasts their state of resigned calm with their jailers' merciless plans to "liquidate" the family. An epilog touches on the canonization of the family as saints in Russian Orthodoxy and their enduring mystique. Poignant but never maudlin, this book is an absorbing read, though the more serious reader might wish for more detailed notes on sources. Recommended for academic and large public libraries. (Illustrations not seen.)-Megan Hahn Fraser, Young Research Lib., Univ. of California, Los Angeles (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

You-are-there account of the grim 1918 countdown toward the deaths of Tsar Nicholas II and his family. British historian Rappaport (No Place for Ladies: The Untold Story of Women in the Crimean War, 2007, etc.) combines detailed scholarship with an engaging narrative style. She lays the groundwork by summarizing Nicholas' tumultuous reign and the list of grievances that Russia's new communist regime and many citizens had against him. Short mini-biographies of the royal couple, their four daughters and one son make the point that isolation from their subjects caused resentment to build and made the leaders of the Bolshevik government intent on swift, brutal justice. Rappaport doesn't break much new ground in her descriptions of the cramped conditions and onerous restrictions that defined the Romanovs' lives under heavy guard from April 30 to July 17, 1918, in the Siberian city of Ekaterinburg. She does, however, strongly convey how far they had fallen and how difficult living in such close quarters was, especially for the Tsaritsa Alexandra and her son, Tsarevich Alexey, who were both quite ill. Rappaport's research uncovered some previously unknown efforts by British and German monarchs to rescue the Romanovs and provide them with safe haven. These efforts were stymied by "flabbiness of will," in addition to internal and external political obstacles, she concludes. The book's most gripping sections describe the days and hours leading up to and including the family's execution. Rappaport spares few details; indeed, some unduly lengthy recitals of meals and similar trivialities could have been omitted. There's no flab, however, in her grisly evocation of the scene after the execution: "The corpses, many of them with hideous, gaping head wounds and broken and dislocated limbs, were now horribly mangled and ugly, their hair matted with caked blood. It was almost impossible to associate these wretched twisted bodies with the five charming, vibrant children of the official publicity." Solid political and social history, related with the vigor of a true-crime thriller. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.