RASPUTIN

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.