Rating: 
Summary: A book for Romanov enthusiasts as well as hopeless romantics
Review: Oh my lord. I adored this book! The love story between Mikhail and Natasha parallels with that of his cousin, the Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson. I found myself crying my eyes out over this story, especially during the quotes from Tata about what kind of a father Mikhail was to her. I also admire Natasha for her strength of character-imagine, having the courage to go and tell off Lenin like that! I
Rating: 
Summary: Highly recommended history of love found and lost
Review: Rosemary and Donald Crawford present a little known adenda to the story of the Romanov Tsars. Their research and sympathetic presentation offers entrance for the reader into the great love story of Michael and Natasha. It quickly catches you up in a pace, all too fast, racing to a tragic finalle. The reader is plundged into the confusion and multiple currants of the Russian experience of the First World War and then, the following Revolution. You shout helplessly at the book, "flee for your lives!" during the short window that they had that opportunity. You pour over and over the wonderful pictures as you become more and more familiar with the characters. I was supprised at a new and revealing discription of Nicholas and Alexandra, showing them with all their weaknesses, bumps and warts. It was interesting that the brothers, Nicholas and Michael shared the trait of complete love and devotion to one woman. One wonders about the family dynamics that produced such a shared commitment. The book is another opportunity to examine the Russian capacity for ineptitude that still goes on today. In the sum, it is the account of a great love story, doomed by it's time.
Rating: 
Summary: No Nicholas and Alexandra
Review: Rosemary Crawford makes a great effort to ennoble Michael and his wife Natasha as great heroes who could have headed off the Bolshevik Revolution if only they had not been stymied by the bigoted Nicholas and Alexandra. The truth is rather different. Michael was a talented man who wasted his time as a playboy when he could have been providing advice and assistance to his older brother, the Tsar. Instead of doing his duty as a Romanov and marrying a Princess ( several were willing and eager to be his bride ), he fell in love with a woman who, regardless of her beauty and elegance, must be regarded as an adventuress. Their narcissism meant Nicholas II had to worry about his younger brother's escapades when he had enough to do worrying about his empire. I find it reprehensible that Michael chose to marry Natasha at the very moment his nephew Alexis lay close to death. What is even more inexcusable is Michael's refusal to take the throne in March 1917, not from any noble motives, but from fear for his own safety. While I'm sure Nichael and Natasha were pleasant people in St. Petersburg high society, they were completely unsuitable as part of a reigning dynasty.
Rating: 
Summary: Very poor research - very poor storytelling
Review: This was quite an unfortunate and unnecessary biography. The New York Times was absolutely right - it is an awkwardly written, uneven book which is tedious and pretentious, not to mention boring. Almost any of the many Romanov books out there now are vastly superior to this amateurish effort.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: This was very well done. Quite a bit of material contained within this book that I was not aware of concerning Grand Duke Michael. If one is curious about the Royal family outside of the Emperor, by all means get this book. For the serious study of the revolution, it is imperative to know how all the members of the family were involved and most interesting to read about their lives outside the realm of politics. Highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Well done!
Review: This was very well done. Quite a bit of material contained within this book that I was not aware of concerning Grand Duke Michael. If one is curious about the Royal family outside of the Emperor, by all means get this book. For the serious study of the revolution, it is imperative to know how all the members of the family were involved and most interesting to read about their lives outside the realm of politics. Highly recommend this book.
Rating:
Summary: Romance, Intrigue, and Insight. Could be a great play/movie
Review: What a wonderful, easy read. The authors have done a great job of decsribing the background of both Grand Duke Michael and Natasha and their love for each other. It is so good to learn of the lives of the "lesser" Romanovs. Michael is raised with the commitment to service, yet unable to find true love. And while Natasha can be viewed as very cunning and self consumed, I, as a hopeless romantic, see her as committed to Michael and supporting him and her children. As with "Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia" (Alexandra's sister), it is wonderful to get an insight into other members of the royal families other than Emperors, Kings, Queens, etc. I highly recommend this book and wish I were a playwrite or screenwriter for this could be a fabulous play/movie.
Rating:
Summary: Romance, Intrigue, and Insight. Could be a great play/movie
Review: What a wonderful, easy read. The authors have done a great job of decsribing the background of both Grand Duke Michael and Natasha and their love for each other. It is so good to learn of the lives of the "lesser" Romanovs. Michael is raised with the commitment to service, yet unable to find true love. And while Natasha can be viewed as very cunning and self consumed, I, as a hopeless romantic, see her as committed to Michael and supporting him and her children. As with "Elizabeth, Grand Duchess of Russia" (Alexandra's sister), it is wonderful to get an insight into other members of the royal families other than Emperors, Kings, Queens, etc. I highly recommend this book and wish I were a playwrite or screenwriter for this could be a fabulous play/movie.
Rating:
Summary: The perfect antidote to Massie's Nicholas & Alexandra
Review: While I question the authors' English usage at times, this is a good book that fills a large gap in the history of the fall of the Romanov dynasty. Whether the authors meant to show Nicholas and Alexandra as two of the biggest baddies who ever drew breath is another story, not to mention Grand Duchess Olga Alexandrovna, usually seen as the ill used mouse of the Romanov family [due to her biographer Ian Vorres] but here, refreshingly portrayed as she was probably was; conniving and devious, with both eyes fixed on the main chance! Michael & Natasha is a moving story of the ups and downs of Imperial fortune. A couple who were clearly in love. Natasha's foundering fortunes in exile make heartrending reading. The authors tell the story in a straigtforward manner, and the narrative flows well. One point the authors don't quite clarify is the fact that Natasha's claim on Nicholas and Alexandra's bank account in Berlin in the 1930's was made as the beneficiary of her late son, not because she was on equal footing with the other relatives. As a morganatic wife of a Grand Duke she could not inherit, but as the mother of Michael's deceased child she could. Her action galvanized Anna Anderson's supporters to request the withdrawal of the certificate of inheritance which led to the ensuing court case to prove that Anna Anderson was Grand Duchess Anastasia. The authors claim Mrs Anderson's action failed in 1961, but in fact the case was finally abandoned in 1977, not before it was ruled 'non liquet' [that is, unsatisfactory to both parties,] in 1970. Interestingly enough, it was the bank which held the funds who wrote to Mrs Anderson to warn her of the action. Could they but have known! I think the book is quite well researched, as the authors have been able to avoid the traps that Massie fell into in Nicholas and Alexandra. I've read this book twice now, and it all seems so sad. That Russia was governed by such an unstable woman and that no-one could have possibly foreseen the outcome of her actions throughout the 20th century and beyond. Least of all by the remainder of the Romanov dynasty.
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