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Alexander II : The Last Great Tsar by Edvard Radzinsky (2005, Hardcover)
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Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar by Radzinsky, Edvard Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less
- Buy It NowAlexander II: The Last Great Tsar by Radzinsky, Edvard
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About this product
Product Identifiers
PublisherFree Press
ISBN-10074327332X
ISBN-139780743273329
eBay Product ID (ePID)27038628532
Product Key Features
Original LanguageRussian
Book TitleAlexander II : the Last Great Tsar
Number of Pages480 Pages
LanguageEnglish
Publication Year2005
TopicRussia & the Former Soviet Union, Europe / Eastern, General, Historical
IllustratorYes
GenreBiography & Autobiography, History
AuthorEdvard Radzinsky
FormatHardcover
Dimensions
Item Height1.5 in
Item Weight23.7 Oz
Item Length9.2 in
Item Width6.2 in
Additional Product Features
Intended AudienceTrade
LCCN2005-049413
Dewey Edition22
Reviews"The Last Tsaris the remarkable fruit of his effort to unravel the convoluted story of the royal murders...a kind of oncologic report on the disease of history in the last days of the Soviet Union. Mr. Radzinsky is a trained archivist who knows how to search the historical record, but is equally at home with the stage. Here the dramatist serves the historian by enriching the narrative with tension and steadily rising suspense."-- Frederick Starr, front page review,The New York Times Book Review, "Everything Radzinsky says is a definitive take on the epic of Russian history....He has added a new dimension to our understanding of the purpose -- and horror -- of the Ekaterinburg tragedy."-- Vanity Fair, "The Last Tsar is the remarkable fruit of his effort to unravel the convoluted story of the royal murders...a kind of oncologic report on the disease of history in the last days of the Soviet Union. Mr. Radzinsky is a trained archivist who knows how to search the historical record, but is equally at home with the stage. Here the dramatist serves the historian by enriching the narrative with tension and steadily rising suspense." -- Frederick Starr, front page review, The New York Times Book Review, "An unforgettable book in which the evocative power of the dramatist is enriched by scholarship."-- Time, "[Radzinsky] triumphs in allowing us often to hear the voices of protagonists and bit players in diaries (including Nicholas' and Alexandra's), memoirs, letters, and oral reminiscences, all of which vividly evoke the imperial twilight and the red dawn."-- People
Dewey Decimal947.08/1/092 B
SynopsisAlexander II was Russia's Lincoln,and the greatest reformer tsar since Peter the Great. He was also one of the most contradictory, and fascinating, of history's supreme leaders. He freed the serfs, yet launched vicious wars. He engaged in the sexual exploits of a royal Don Juan, yet fell profoundly in love. He ruled during the "Russian Renaissance" of Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, and Turgenev -- yet his Russia became the birthplace of modern terrorism. His story could be that of one of Russia's greatest novels, yet it is true. It is also crucially important today.It is a tale that runs on parallel tracks. Alexander freed 23 million Russian slaves, reformed the justice system and the army, and very nearly became the father of Russia's first constitution and the man who led that nation into a new era of western-style liberalism. Yet it was during this feverish time that modern nihilism first arose. On the sidelines of Alexander's state dramas, a group of radical, disaffected young people first experimented with dynamite, and first began to use terrorism. Fueled by the writings of a few intellectuals and zealots, they built bombs, dug tunnels, and planned ambushes. They made no less than six unsuccessful attempts on Alexander's life. Finally, the parallel tracks joined, when a small cell of terrorists, living next door to Dostoevsky, built the fatal bomb that ended the life of the last great Tsar. It stopped Russian reform in its tracks.Edvard Radzinsky is justly famous as both a biographer and a dramatist, and he brings both skills to bear in this vivid, page-turning, rich portrait of one of the greatest of all Romanovs. Delving deep into the archives, he raises intriguing questions about the connections between Dostoevsky and the young terrorists, about the hidden romances of the Romanovs, and about the palace conspiracies that may have linked hard-line aristocrats with their nemesis, the young nihilists.Alexander's life proves the timeless lesson that in Russia, it is dangerous to start reforms, but even more dangerous to stop them. It also shows that the traps and dangers encountered in today's war on terrorists were there from the start.
LC Classification NumberDK220.R33 2005
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- Nov 08, 2017
Thanks
Great read, very informative.Verified purchase: YesCondition: Pre-owned
