Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs
by Douglas Smith
848 pages
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Release Date: November 22, 2016

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Third-party reviews and links (some sites may require subscription):

• Foreign Affairs review dated Oct 12, 2016
• The Seattle Times review dated Nov 5, 2016
• The (UK) Times review dated Oct 29, 2016
• Publishers Weekly review dated November 2016
• Kirkus review dated Sept 8, 2016
• Douglas Smith’s personal website

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From the publisher:

“On the centenary of the death of Rasputin comes a definitive biography that will dramatically change our understanding of this fascinating figure

A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra’s confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. His debauchery and sinister political influence are the stuff of legend, and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty was laid at his feet.

But as the prizewinning historian Douglas Smith shows, the true story of Rasputin’s life and death has remained shrouded in myth. A major new work that combines probing scholarship and powerful storytelling, Rasputinseparates fact from fiction to reveal the real life of one of history’s most alluring figures. Drawing on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries, Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity–man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. Rasputin is not just a definitive biography of an extraordinary and legendary man but a fascinating portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.”