The Tragic Dynasty

By John D. Bergamini

Book Overview

The Romanov dynasty assumed control over Russia in 1613 and ruled uninterruptedly for the next three centuries. Never in history has one family wielded so much power. John Bergamini's classic work... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 156852160X
• ISBN13: 9781568521602
• Release Date: May 1999
• Publisher: William S. Konecky Associates
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A strange family . . .

To the descendants of Rurik, the Romanovs were social-climbing parvenus when the first of them -- Michael, a nephew-by-marriage of Ivan IV "the Terrible" -- came to the throne in 1613. But for the next three centuries, the family ruled the largest nation on earth. Among their number were weaklings and ironhanded autocrats, murderers and religious mystics, certifiable idiots and world-class leaders of great vision. Even the ablest, though, such as Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, were victims of the Russian national irony: All their accomplishments were undone within a generation. This saga of mysterious and violent death, insatiable appetites of all kinds, and intrafamilial scheming rivals TV soap operas for plot twists. A well-documented "life and times" narrative.