An informative page-turner on the mystic who captivated the last czar’s family.
The strange, eventful life of an enigmatic spiritual adviser to Russian rulers.
Countering a welter of century-old legends, Beevor, an eminent British historian, crafts a crisp narrative of his subject’s unlikely ascent and notorious influence. The “wandering pilgrim” from Siberia insinuated himself into the St. Petersburg court of Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra early in the 20th century, a time and place that Beevor captures with concise descriptions of recreational pursuits, pedestrian traffic, and the mystical beliefs of moneyed Russians. Drawing on diaries and other sources, he shows that Alexandra came to believe Rasputin was a saint after his prayers seemed to help her son, who had hemophilia, recover from an injury. Beevor colorfully depicts Rasputin’s lifestyle, which clashed with his conspicuous piety. He drank heavily and asked women to “wash his most intimate parts” at bathhouses. Perceived to have orchestrated Alexandra’s “takeover of government business,” Beevor writes, Rasputin’s controversial clout was one factor—though not the only one—that shook public faith in a “brittle autocracy.” Recounting Rasputin’s murder, which occurred months before the Russian Revolution, Beevor blends arresting imagery, bizarre details, and mordant observations. Just before the killing, a conspirator entertained confederates by playing the one record he owned—Yankee Doodle Dandy. When poisoned tartlets didn’t work, Rasputin, in his satin shirt and red silk cummerbund, was shot in “softly falling snow.” One of the conspirators, Beevor writes, “reflected on Rasputin’s reputation for clairvoyance juxtaposed with his inability to” foresee his fate. Conversely, Beevor is frustratingly ambiguous on Rasputin’s purported healing abilities, writing that he “seemed to possess some sort of magnetic force in his hands” but dropping it there. And a brief glossary doesn’t include all of the Russian terms used. Still, this is brisk, engaging history.
An informative page-turner on the mystic who captivated the last czar’s family.Pub Date: April 14, 2026
ISBN: 9798217061181
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.
A coffee-table book celebrates Michelle Obama’s sense of fashion.
Illustrated with hundreds of full-color photographs, Obama’s chatty latest book begins with some school portraits from the author’s childhood in Chicago and fond memories of back-to-school shopping at Sears, then jumps into the intricacies of clothing oneself as the spouse of a presidential candidate and as the first lady. “People looked forward to the outfits, and once I got their attention, they listened to what I had to say. This is the soft power of fashion,” she says. Obama is grateful and frank about all the help she got along the way, and the volume includes a long section written by her primary wardrobe stylist, Koop—28 years old when she first took the job—and shorter sections by makeup artists and several hair stylists, who worked with wigs and hair extensions as Obama transitioned back to her natural hair, and grew out her bangs, at the end of her husband’s second term. Many of the designers of the author’s gowns, notably Jason Wu, who designed several of her more striking outfits, also contribute appreciative memories. Besides candid and more formal photographs, the volume features many sketches of her gowns by their designers, closeups on details of those gowns, and magazine covers from Better Homes & Gardens to Vogue. The author writes that as a Black woman, “I was under a particularly white-hot glare, constantly appraised for whether my outfits were ‘acceptable’ and ‘appropriate,’ the color of my skin somehow inviting even more judgment than the color of my dresses.” Overall, though, this is generally a canny, upbeat volume, with little in the way of surprising revelations.
Not so deep, but a delightful tip of the hat to the pleasures—and power—of glamour.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593800706
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.
A former New York City dancer reflects on her zesty heyday in the 1970s.
Discovered on a Manhattan street in 2020 and introduced on Stanton’s Humans of New York Instagram page, Johnson, then 76, shares her dynamic history as a “fiercely independent” Black burlesque dancer who used the stage name Tanqueray and became a celebrated fixture in midtown adult theaters. “I was the only black girl making white girl money,” she boasts, telling a vibrant story about sex and struggle in a bygone era. Frank and unapologetic, Johnson vividly captures aspects of her former life as a stage seductress shimmying to blues tracks during 18-minute sets or sewing lingerie for plus-sized dancers. Though her work was far from the Broadway shows she dreamed about, it eventually became all about the nightly hustle to simply survive. Her anecdotes are humorous, heartfelt, and supremely captivating, recounted with the passion of a true survivor and the acerbic wit of a weathered, street-wise New Yorker. She shares stories of growing up in an abusive household in Albany in the 1940s, a teenage pregnancy, and prison time for robbery as nonchalantly as she recalls selling rhinestone G-strings to prostitutes to make them sparkle in the headlights of passing cars. Complemented by an array of revealing personal photographs, the narrative alternates between heartfelt nostalgia about the seedier side of Manhattan’s go-go scene and funny quips about her unconventional stage performances. Encounters with a variety of hardworking dancers, drag queens, and pimps, plus an account of the complexities of a first love with a drug-addled hustler, fill out the memoir with personality and candor. With a narrative assist from Stanton, the result is a consistently titillating and often moving story of human struggle as well as an insider glimpse into the days when Times Square was considered the Big Apple’s gloriously unpolished underbelly. The book also includes Yee’s lush watercolor illustrations.
A blissfully vicarious, heartfelt glimpse into the life of a Manhattan burlesque dancer.Pub Date: July 12, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-27827-2
Page Count: 192
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
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