Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ

Easy to follow biography of the last royal family of Russia. I was able to keep everyone straight (lots of relatives and aristocrats and revolutionaries). I have always been interested in revolutions, and Peter Kurth places a weighty share of the blame on the silly, decadent elites who refused any kind of reform. I would own this book just for its description of the events leading up to the revolution.

The pictures in this make it worthy of a fine coffee table.

This book actually helped me understand more about Alexandra's attempts to be a good mother in a decaying society and an institution (Russian royalty) that was seriously flawed. As the oldest daughter of Queen Victoria, she was scandalized by the loose morals of Russian aristocrats and kept her daughters home most of the time knitting. And they had bad handwriting. Weird.