The Rasputin file

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

Ever since the brutal murder of Grigory Rasputin on the eve of the Russian Revolution, morbid fascination has assured the semiliterate peasant a legacy in infamy. Now, armed with a newly discovered trove of testimonies from Rasputin's inner circle of devotees, Radzinsky (The Last Tsar) promises to "solve" the mystery of Rasputin's death. A veteran writer of Russian history, Radzinsky writes as if a historian must also be a sleuth and a psychiatrist. It's no wonder, then, that his book, which has the makings of a genuine expos , goes more than a little off the rails. His latest effort is a muddle of conjecture that reads like a made-for-television docudrama. It is true that the evidentiary file--compiled by a revolutionary commission in 1917 and bought at auction in 1995 by the famous cellist Mistoslav Rostropovich--contains new and often sensational material. However, a transcription of the titillating details of Rasputin's sexual escapades coupled with "who's who" captions for previously printed photographs cannot be equated with, in the author's words, "a unique investigation." More inadequate is Radzinsky's claim to have solved a great mystery when he declares that Rasputin was felled (but not killed) by a bullet from Assassin B (the Grand Duke) and not from Assassin A (a collaborator), as has so long been thought. Even if it is true, one wonders how relevant such a theory is in light of the more miraculous fact that Rasputin died from drowning--after his poisoned, bludgeoned and bullet-ridden body was dumped in the Neva River. Lovers of history and pulp fiction alike should rejoice that this account fails to crack the enigma of Rasputin. (May) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.|

Library Journal

The Provisional Government in Russia (1917) formed the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the excesses of the tsarist regime, including those of the "Mad Monk" Grigory Rasputin (1869-1916) and his influence on the imperial family. The commission's file on him soon vanished, finally reappearing a few years ago at auction, where it was bought for Radzinsky, author of The Last Tsar and Stalin. Based on this newfound evidence, supplemented by published memoirs and by the surveillance file the police kept on Rasputin during the last five years of his life, the author has reconstructed his daily visits and actions during the years 1903-16 in meticulous detail, including the events surrounding his death. He portrays Rasputin as part of a pre-Christian peasant tradition of mysticism and folk wisdom. Statements made to the commission substantiate many of the drunken excesses usually attributed to Rasputin but undermine other charges of sexual exploits. The level of detail in this work makes it appropriate for specialists in the period and for academic libraries.--Marcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\

Daniels

What makes [the book] really fresh are the long-lost or suppressed documents that Radzinsky has managed to bring to light . . . A gripping tale of Rasputin's ascent to power, a story almost Tolstoyan in its complexities and ironies.
—The New York Times Book Review

Kirkus Reviews

A fascinating history of the Russian visionary Rasputin, whose strange influence over the imperial family during the twilight of the Romanov dynasty reads like something out of a gothic novel.