The Romanovs: The Final Chapter (1995)

by Robert K. Massie

Series: The Romanovs (4)

Members	Reviews	Popularity	Average rating	Mentions
1,292	15	15,820	(3.96)	34
Biography & Autobiography. History. Nonfiction. HTML: �Riveting . . . unfolds like a detective story.��Los Angeles Times Book Review In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow mass grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar room where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. But were these the bones of the Romanovs? And if these were their remains, where were the bones of the two younger Romanovs supposedly murdered with the rest of the family? Was Anna Anderson, celebrated for more than sixty years in newspapers, books, and film, really Grand Duchess Anastasia? The Romanovs provides the answers, describing in suspenseful detail the dramatic efforts to discover the truth. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie presents a colorful panorama of contemporary characters, illuminating the major scientific dispute between Russian experts and a team of Americans, whose findings, along with those of DNA scientists... .… (more)

all members

▾Members

Recently added by

maittlan, TiffGibson, jefftobin11, StElijahOKC, sherlockholmes20, DominicAlbanese, jkellner, ayellowbanana1

▾Tags

▾LibraryThing Recommendations

▾Member recommendations

00
The Kitchen Boy by Robert Alexander (bnbookgirl)

▾Lists

All Things Russia (12)

Books Read in 2021 (761)

▾Will you like it?

▾Conversations (About links)

No current Talk conversations about this book.

» See also 34 mentions

▾Member reviews

English (14) Italian (1) All languages (15)

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 14 (next | show all)

Good. (

)

k6gst | Jul 30, 2023 |

I enjoyed the first part about the bones and the DNA. The first part about Anna Anderson was interesting, but went on too long. She was a nasty, quarrelsome, mentally unstable individual. The chapter about the living Romanovs I could have lived without. The very last chapter showing the journal of the the Tsarina was interesting. (

)

dara85 | Aug 18, 2021 |

too long. some parts really interesting about the tsar and family. less interesting about the Romanov families who escaped and the false impersonators. (

)

mahallett | Mar 13, 2021 |

The problem you have in reading this book is that it's very depressing; almost literally no one looks good in this narrative. Massie discusses the murder of the Russian Imperial Family in 1918, what happened to the bodies, early efforts in the Soviet period to recover the bodies, the formal effort to recover and scientifically identify the bodies, and further efforts to identify whether "Anna Anderson" was truly the Grand Duchess Anastasia. The sheer amount of selfishness, squabbling, small-mindedness, greed and in general foul behaviour that permeates the book during all of these events leaves a horrible taste in your mouth. The book is also slightly outdated (at least the edition I read), since the two "missing" bodies of the Czarevitch and one of the daughters turned up some years later. For Russian history mavens only, I'm afraid. (

)

EricCostello | Mar 20, 2020 |

This book was not what I anticipated: a thorough story of the Romanovs’ last days and execution. Instead it was about their bones: half the book—finding them, analyzing them, dna tests, the fights over them. Most of the second half was about whether there was an imposter survivor. Finally, an extraordinarily detailed genealogy of the post-execution surviving Romanovs. No detail is left unsaid: it was well-researched, dry, and tedious, but not so dry to bail. Recommended if this is a subject of interest already. (

)

KarenMonsen | Apr 23, 2019 |

date ▼ | votes

Showing 1-5 of 14 (next | show all)

▾Published reviews

no reviews | add a review

▾Other authors

» Add other authors (2 possible)

▾Series and work relationships

Belongs to Series

The Romanovs (4)

Is abridged in

Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction 37 by Reader's Digest

▾Awards and Honors

Notable Lists

Tayshas High School Reading List (1997)

view history

▾Common Knowledge

You must log in to edit Common Knowledge data.

For more help see the Common Knowledge help page.

Canonical title

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter

Original title

The Romanovs: The Final Chapter

Alternative titles

Original publication date

1995

People/Characters

Important places

Ekaterinburg, Russia

Important events

Assassination of Russian imperial family (July 17, 1918)

Russian Revolution (1917)

Related movies

Epigraph

Dedication

For Christopher

First words

At midnight Yakov Yurovsky, the leader of the executioners, came up the stairs to awaken the family.

Quotations

Last words

(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)

Disambiguation notice

Publisher's editors

Blurbers

Original language

English

Canonical DDC/MDS

Canonical LCC

▾References

References to this work on external resources.

Wikipedia in English (23)

▾Book descriptions

Biography & Autobiography. History. Nonfiction. HTML:

�Riveting . . . unfolds like a detective story.��Los Angeles Times Book Review

In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow mass grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar room where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. But were these the bones of the Romanovs? And if these were their remains, where were the bones of the two younger Romanovs supposedly murdered with the rest of the family? Was Anna Anderson, celebrated for more than sixty years in newspapers, books, and film, really Grand Duchess Anastasia? The Romanovs provides the answers, describing in suspenseful detail the dramatic efforts to discover the truth. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie presents a colorful panorama of contemporary characters, illuminating the major scientific dispute between Russian experts and a team of Americans, whose findings, along with those of DNA scientists...

▾Library descriptions

No library descriptions found.

▾LibraryThing members' description

Book description

Haiku summary