Synopsis
Unravel the Mysteries of Rasputin's Life and Death in this Definitive Biography
Get lost in the labyrinthine life of Grigori Rasputin, an enigmatic figure that continues to puzzle historians to this day. Drawing on major new sources hitherto unexamined by Western historians, Douglas Smith offers an unparalleled biography in Rasputin that exposes the mysteries and myths surrounding this extraordinary figure.
From a horse thief and hard-drinking ruffian in his youth to a devout Orthodox Christian, this book scrutinises the myths of Rasputin's debauchery, sexual exploits, healing powers and uncanny influence over Russia's empress and emperor. Smith questions whether he manipulated the Russian government at his own behest or under the influence of more sinister forces.
The book also examines Rasputin's murder, focusing on Prince Yusupov and his fellow conspirators. It explores broader conspiracy theories involving British secret agents and Freemasons, and discusses the long shadow his death cast over the Romanov dynasty during the tumultuous period leading up to the Russian Revolution.
Shortlisted for the James Tait Black Prize, Rasputin is 'the most comprehensive account of Rasputin to date, brimming with complexities and fascinating detail, and stands as an enlightening re-evaluation of this crucial figure in Russian history' (The Telegraph).
Details
18 May 2017
9781447245858Reviews
Douglas Smith has delivered the definitive biography that is brilliantly gripping, as hypnotic, wild and erotic in its revelations as the Mad Monk himself, sensitive in its human portrait, astute in its political analysis, superbly researched with rich new material gathered in faraway archives, and populated with the zaniest cast of the deranged Romanovs, depraved bishops, whores, mountebanks, adventuresses, mystics and murderers.Simon Sebag Montefiore
The most comprehensive account of Rasputin to date, brimming with complexities and fascinating detail, and stands as an enlightening re-evaluation of this crucial figure in Russian history.Daily Telegraph
Douglas Smith begins this impressive biography by rubbishing almost everything previously written, stripping away a century of myth, fabrication, gossip and lies . . . a fascinating, often entertaining, biography.The Times
Utterly fascinating and foreniscally detailed . . .There are plenty of Rasputin biographies already, but its superlative scholarship and attention to detail put this one in a class of its own.Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times
