NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - From the national bestselling author of
Stalin: An "epic history on the grandest scale" (Financial Times)
about the most successful dynasty of modern times, a family who created
the world's greatest empire--and then lost it all.
"An essential addition to the library of anyone interested in Russian
history." --The New York Times Book Review
The Romanovs ruled a sixth of the world's surface for three centuries.
How did one family turn a war-ruined principality intoc the world's
greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?
This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by
genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial
ambition. Simon Sebag Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their
secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building,
overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence,
and wild extravagance.
Drawing on new archival research, Montefiore delivers an enthralling
epic of triumph and tragedy, love and murder, that is both a universal
study of power and a portrait of empire that helps define Russia today.
