Joseph T. Fuhrmann – författare

In this rich and learned book. Fuhrmann presents a detailed biography of Rasputin well integrated with discussions of the religious social, and political context of the times. Even if the subject were not lurid and fascinating, this book would provide useful insight into Russian life at several levels--from Siberian peasantry to the court in St. Petersburg. . . . Control of the sources and the literature and the author's willingness to offer clear choices in judging some of the more controversial aspects of Rasputin's career help make the work very useful. Among many contributions worth noting is Fuhrmann's clear exposition of Rasputin's relationship with the official church, explained more thoroughly and sympathetically than in any other account in English. In sum, the book offers sound scholarship on important matters and will make a useful contribution to almost any collection on modern Russia. ChoiceHistorian and Russian scholar Joseph Fuhrmann probes the life and times of Grigory Rasputin and offers the most thoroughly researched biography yet of the holy man who hastened the collapse of an empire. In a fast paced narrative, his book recounts Rasputin's journey from his peasant origins in Siberia to his powerful position at the right hand of the tsar and tsarina, Nicholas and Alexandra. Fuhrmann taps heretofore unused sources and puts to rest the many myths surrounding this notorious character. He documents the precise degree of influence Rasputin exerted on the Russian government, as well as the conspiracy that took Rasputin's life, the murder itself, the investigation, and the final unmasking of the culprits.Rasputin; A Life portrays the complex character of a greedy libertine who gained unlimited power and yet sincerely followed a religious vocation. In addition, Fuhrmann brings to life more than a dozen secondary characters that were important in the life of Rasputin, among them Anna Vyrubova, weak and gullible, the empress's best friend, boundlessly devoted to Rasputin and a contact between him and Alexandra, and Pitirim, the homosexual metropolitan of Petrograd, who Rasputin had appointed to the leading bishop's post in the Church. This book dramatizes the Russian empire in an age of crisis, war, and revolution. Students and scholars will find insight in this detailed and scholarly account of turbulent times. The general reader will find an unforgettable journey through turn of the century Russia.

Nicholas and his German-born wife Alexandra generally used English in writing each other. This is the first complete edition of their letters and telegrams, plus English translations of the few telegrams in Russian. We see in these pages the enormous love the couple shared against the backdrop of a bloody war and the approaching end of the Russian empire. Alexandra offers extensive commentary on hospitals and the wounded (she was a volunteer nurse). Nicholas II reports on the military and the war effort. The growing influence of Rasputin is also thoroughly documented in these texts. The reader sees in detail the crises that led to the Russian Revolution of 1917 and the collapse of the tsarist regime. Important for all students of late Imperial Russia and World War I, and essential for those interested in the Romanovs.

Based on new sources—the definitive biography of Rasputin, with revelations about his life, death, and involvement with the Romanovs

A century after his death, Grigory Rasputin remains fascinating: the Russian peasant with hypnotic eyes who befriended Tsar Nicholas II and helped destroy the Russian Empire, but the truth about his strange life has never fully been told. Written by the world''s leading authority on Rasputin, this new biography draws on previously closed Soviet archives to offer new information on Rasputin''s relationship with Empress Alexandra, sensational revelations about his sexual conquests, a re-examination of his murder, and more.

Based on long-closed Soviet archives and the author''s decades of research, encompassing sources ranging from baptismal records and forgotten police reports to notes written by Rasputin and personal lettersReveals new information on Rasputin''s family history and strange early life, religious beliefs, and multitudinous sexual adventures as well as his relationship with Empress Alexandra, ability to heal the haemophiliac tsarevich, and moreIncludes many previously unpublished photos, including contemporary studio photographs of Rasputin and samples of his handwritingWritten by historian Joesph T. Fuhrmann, a Rasputin expert whose 1990 biography Rasputin: A Life was widely praised as the best on the subject

Synthesizing archival sources with published documents, memoirs, and other studies of Rasputin into a single, comprehensive work, Rasputin: The Untold Story will correct a century''s worth of misconception and error about the life and death of the famous Siberian mystic and healer and the decline and fall of Imperial Russia.