The Man Who Killed Rasputin: Prince Felix Youssoupov and the Murder That Helped Bring Down the Russian Empire

Rating:
Summary: Click http://Youssoupov.tripod.com/index.html for details.
Review: A wonderful book that give a just account of the Prince himself. Not your ordinary biography or history book, and it reads like a detective story, unfolding the final act of murder and sustaining reader curiosity even though the victim and the murderer are known.

Rating:
Summary: Click http://Youssoupov.tripod.com/index.html for details.
Review: A wonderful book that give a just account of the Prince himself. Not your ordinary biography or history book, and it reads like a detective story, unfolding the final act of murder and sustaining reader curiosity even though the victim and the murderer are known.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book and well-written
Review: An absolutely beautiful book with interesting photos. The book is so well-written, that the characters in pre-revolutionary Russia come to life and one gets a feeling of the "hardship" Felix and Irina endured when in exile. It is astounding that a "mad" monk could have such an influence over the tsarina and her imperial court. Personally, I admire Prince Felix Youssoupov for taking such a drastic action in those troubled times. After reading this book, I bought his book "Lost Splendour" which gives generally a very good impression of what life was like in pre-revolutionary Russia and there are some funny chapters in it as well. It ends with the tragic exile from Yalta sailing towards the unknown.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful book and well-written
Review: An absolutely beautiful book with interesting photos. The book is so well-written, that the characters in pre-revolutionary Russia come to life and one gets a feeling of the "hardship" Felix and Irina endured when in exile. It is astounding that a "mad" monk could have such an influence over the tsarina and her imperial court. Personally, I admire Prince Felix Youssoupov for taking such a drastic action in those troubled times. After reading this book, I bought his book "Lost Splendour" which gives generally a very good impression of what life was like in pre-revolutionary Russia and there are some funny chapters in it as well. It ends with the tragic exile from Yalta sailing towards the unknown.

Rating:
Summary: Conjecture, Fabrication, and Pop-Psychology
Review: King's scholarship is severely in question in this book. Many of his claims about both Rasputin and Yusupov are mixtures of conjecture, pop-psychology, and pseudo-mysticism. In some cases, they're downright libelous.

Too bad Felix Yusupov isn't alive to sue him, too. (As he did both MGM and CBS).

King makes claims that cannot in any way be substantiated, but he presents them as truth, as allegations, and as innuendoes. The book comes across as an apologists attempt to paint Rasputin in a good light and to brand Yusupov as some kind of insane sex-criminal.

King even maintains that Rasputin could actually heal!

In most of the rest, he just re-quotes other sources. I know that stealing from more than one source is research, not plagiarism, but the only new insights into the events are from King's imagination.

Read it as fiction, not as fact. Yusupov might not have told the complete truth in his memoirs, but you can't take this book as fact either.



Rating:
Summary: A detailed look at two enigmatic lives
Review: The author does a wonderful job of separating the myths and the truth concerning the lives of the "Mad Monk" Rasputin and his killer, Felix Youssoupov. Rich in detail, I felt like I was in Tsarist Russia, watching the dramatic events as they unfolded. Recommended reading for any history buff.

Rating:
Summary: A detailed look at two enigmatic lives
Review: The author does a wonderful job of separating the myths and the truth concerning the lives of the "Mad Monk" Rasputin and his killer, Felix Youssoupov. Rich in detail, I felt like I was in Tsarist Russia, watching the dramatic events as they unfolded. Recommended reading for any history buff.