Rasputín : Y la caída de los Románov

When the Dowager Empress of Russia was pregnant with the future Tsar, she had a dream that would mark the rest of her life: her son would die at the hands of a peasant. Would this prophecy be fulfilled with the arrival at court of Grigori Rasputin, an enigmatic, barely literate monk from Siberia? In this extraordinary portrait, Antony Beevor brings us closer than ever before to the scandalous life and death of Rasputin. Although he never held an official position at court, he wielded decisive influence over the Romanovs and was at the center of episodes of political and financial corruption and numerous sex scandals. The consequences of the rumors and conspiracy theories surrounding him fostered such disaffection toward the Tsar's court that, when the February Revolution of 1917 erupted, almost no one raised a sword in its defense. Through previously unpublished reports, interviews, and interrogations, Beevor reveals the truth behind the Rasputin legend: the motivations behind his political opportunism, his profound hypocrisy, and his unbridled lust. Part political thriller, part gothic mystery, this biography unveils a fascinating tale of human depravity and the fall of empires.