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Ekaterinburg: The Last Days Of The Romanovs (2009)

by Helen Rappaport(Favorite Author)

4.01 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

0099520095 (ISBN13: 9780099520092)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Windmill Books

review 1: After finishing The Romanov Sisters, The Last Days of the Romanovs seemed a logical choice for my next read. It picks up virtually where The Romanov Sisters left off. The book is told in a countdown form, with each chapter representing one day. It describes the background of each of the main players in the story, from Nicholas and Alexandra to their children, Dr. Botkin, and even the backgrounds of their future assassins and communist leaders. This is a very honest account of the end of the Romanov dynasty. For years the family has been painted as devoted and happy and loving and finally Rappaport breaks this down by showing their human side. I mean think about I love my family a great deal too but there are times they drive me mad and the same is true with the Roman... moreovs. They were trapped in a house with little room to exercise, the windows sealed and painted over and in the middle of the summer heat. I'm sure more than a few tempers flared during their last days. I liked the varied perspectives given, from George V in England to Lenin in Moscow and even Woodrow Wilson in America and the introduction of a truly amazing woman Maria Bochkareva, who asked the Tsar for the right to fight on the front with the men and ending up leading an all female battalion, someone who seems to have been lost to history sadly. Day by day the story counts down and you see all sides of it. The end is not for the faint of heart for sure as it is the most graphic account of the murders I think I have read. Even the guards and the shooters were disgusted by what they had done. Some said that after the Tsar and Tsarina were shot most didn't have the guts to kill the children, but ultimately in the chaos of the room no one was sure who shot who. The story ends with a description of how the Romanov family has been romanticized over the years, turned into saints and martyrs. She touches on the Anna Anderson saga and about the recent (then in 2006) finding of the last two bodies. The book was very engaging, and offered new insights, I like learning not just about the Romanov family but also about their guards and what was going on behind the scenes to decide the fate of this family and is a perfect companion to The Romanov Sisters.
review 2: A well-written and researched narrative detailing the terrible final days in July, 1918, when the Romanov family was imprisoned and eventually executed in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution. We all know the basic story, of course, but here is a very up-close and personal look at the family as they prayed and waited and endured horrors no living being should ever have to face. Each chapter provides snippets of history (remember, these were also the last days of World War I) as well as glimpses into the individual characters of the family and their tormentors. It addresses the overall revolution and general state of Russia in broad terms (it's waaaaaay too much to try to explain in this book) but makes a point of tying in some of the specific politics and machinations with the immediate, desperate circumstances of the Romanovs.There are clearly some strong author's opinions throughout the book, and Rappaport admits that she drew some of her own conclusions, so the overall effect is marred. It's certainly not a romanticized view of the Romanovs (Tsar Nicholas was obviously ineffective at best, brutally inflexible at worst) but it certainly casts their executioners in the very worst light. (Not that it's a stretch for the reader to loathe people capable of slaughtering children then looting their corpses.) It's not particularly flattering to the other world leaders at the time, either; nobody, not a president nor monarch anywhere, was willing, capable, or organized enough to effect any kind of rescue. The whole bloody business was absolutely shameful for everyone, from the Bolshevik gunmen who massacred the family to the world press who announced the murders as if declaring a garbage strike. It's ugly stuff and Rappaport delivers all of the terrible, sometimes gruesome, details. This is a history book with teeth.On an entirely technical note, I found myself distracted by typos and unusual phrasing throughout the book. And never have I missed the Oxford comma more. less

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