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The Romanovs 1818-1959
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Plot Summary of The Romanovs 1818-1959
"The Romanovs, 1818-1959
John Van der Kiste
Sutton (Stroud, UK), 2004
ISBN: 075093459X

This collective biography covers the lives and families of the last three Tsars of imperial Russia, from Alexander II (born in 1818), to the death of his youngest daughter Princess Catherine Yourievsky in 1959.

Alexander II was by nature a liberal ruler, in whose reign the serfs were emancipated. However his reforming zeal was tempered by the conservatism of those around him and repeated threats on his life. In 1881, shortly before he was due to sign a constitution designed to lead the way for parliamentary government in Russia, he was assassinated by a group of nihilists. His son and successor, Alexander III, was a reactionary who promptly destroyed the draft constitution.

He reigned for thirteen troubled years, to be succeeded by his tragic son as Nicholas II. Nicholas's reign was overshadowed by the disaster of their coronation celebrations when over a thousand people were crushed to death while trying to obtain coronation gifts, overwhelming defeat in war with Japan, the ill-health of his only son Alexis from 'hemophilia', the bleeding disease, and then the outbreak of World War I in 1914. Within three years, he had abdicated and he and his family were imprisoned, to be massacred by the Bolsheviks in 1918.

The book also looks at the lives of the Tsars' families, among them Alexander III's brothers Vladimir, whom he regarded as a threat and a rival, and Alexis, the unsuccessful naval commander and bon viveur whose life was said to be all 'slow ships and fast women'; Alexander II's mistress Catherine Dolgoroulky, whom he married only a few months before his assassination; and Catherine's youngest daughter and namesake, who settled in Hayling Island, England, briefly pursued a career as a professional singer, and survived until 1959."
John Van der Kiste, Resident Scholar



Review Analysis of The Romanovs 1818-1959
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Royalty bio Yes
Period of greatest activity? - 1800's

Subject of Biography
Gender - Male
Profession/status: - Prince/Nobleman/King
Age: - long lived adults
Biography of famous person? Yes
Ethnicity - White
Nationality - Russian
How sensitive is this person? - middling sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor - Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence - Average intelligence
Physique - average physique

Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings? - 4 ()
Misc setting - Fancy Mansion
Century: - 19th century

Style
Person - mostly 3rd
Accounts of torture and death? - generic/vague references to death/punishment
Book makes you feel? - thoughtful
Writer's slant towards subject: - neutral
Story of entire life, or part? - story of nearly entire life
Is this a biography of several people? Yes
Pictures/Illustrations? - A ton 16-20 B&W
How much dialogue in bio? - significantly more descript than dialog
How much of bio focuses on most famous period of life? - 76%-100% of book
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