Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs

The infamous holy man did more than any revolutionary to bring down the Russian monarchy, according to this captivating biography from historian Beevor (Stalingrad). Siberian peasant-turned-religious guru Rasputin came to St. Petersburg in 1905 and amassed a large following that included Empress Alexandra. She, like many women, was transfixed by Rasputin’s burning gaze, rustic authenticity, and sonorous voice, as well as his uncanny capacity for emotional rapport, which felt to many like mind reading. But Rasputin had a lecherous side, as attested by secret police reports and eyewitness accounts: he propositioned female admirers (he told them that to genuinely repent they must first sin greatly), trolled ceaselessly for prostitutes, and was even accused of improprieties with the czar’s daughters by their governess. During WWI, Alexandra pressured her husband, Emperor Nicholas, into installing incompetent ministers loyal to Rasputin, who instituted a reign of sexualized corruption (including receiving sexual favors from women trying to keep male relatives out of the army). It was this corruption, and the sense that the czar had lost control and let Russia fall prey to sinister weirdos, that Beevor asserts led the monarchy to be easily overthrown. Calling it “a lesson no less relevant today,” Beevor slyly concludes that “stories of... Dionysian orgies in high places proved far more devastating than anyone imagined at the time.” It’s an arresting portrait of a regime rotting from the top. (Apr.)