Alexander II: The Last Great Tsar

by Edvard Radzinsky

Book Overview

Edvard Radzinsky is justly famous as both a biographer and a dramatist, and he brings both skills to bear in this vivid, page-turning, rich portrait of one of the greatest of all Romanovs. Alexander... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 074327332X
• ISBN13: 9780743273329
• Release Date: October 2005
• Publisher: Free Press
• Length: 462 Pages
• Weight: 1.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 6.3" x 9.1"

Customer Reviews

Excellent!

lot of research went into this book but it is so well written that it is easy to follow.

A GREAT BOOK

Very informative and exciting biography on Alexander II. Defiently and interesting person. The one who freed the serfs, lowered censorship, and promised a Constitution for Russia. Every big step he took Alexander then took two steps back. He certainly realized Russia needed changes and came up with good ideas on how to change Russia for the better but never completely followed through whether he was unwilling or unable to follow through because of himself, the people around him or the revolutionists or a mixture of all three at he was trying. You can't help but wonder what would of happened if Aexander had actually gone through with each of his plans. The author gave good descriptions of everyone in the book from Alexander, his family and even the revolutionists. His private life was just as messy with between his two marriages and two families. I thought it was a little cold and cruel to move in his mistress and later second wife and their children while his wife was dying. Other then that it was a great bio.

The Perils Of Half-Hearted Liberalism

Radzinsky paints a compelling portrait of Alexander II, who he terms as Russia's Last Great Tsar, and, implicitly, the last figure with a chance to prevent the Russian Revolution to come. Radzinsky deals with Alexander's formative years, as the tsarevich under the conservative Nicholas I. Russia in its final years seemed to be the epitome as thesis begets antithesis as reformists tsars were followed by conservative ones. One of Alexander's first actions after being crowned was to free the Russian serfs. Unfortunately, in what was to become a theme of his reign, he attempted to chart a middle course, and the serfs were "freed" but not given full control over the land that they owned, he started political liberalization, than drew back from it. Unwilling to either crack down on rebellion fully, or eliminate the conservative elements, Russia began to build up steam internally as the anarchists began to organize. The Liberalizing element, seeing little hope from the regime, was faced with either accomadting to the current path or to go into violent plotting against the regime. After Alexander's first round of reforms, he shifted into idle. It is at the point that Radzinsky deviates from his following of the tsar, and dives into the story of the plotters and revolutionaries that would ultimately commit regicide. This deviation may seem like a distraction, but it shows the complete inertia of St. Petersburg as to what was actually going on in the country. As he entered his late 50's Alexander prepared a second round of reforms, including a constitution. However, at this point the radicals were gaining strength and preparing their plots. The reforms would be aborted by the tsar's death before they could be put in place. Alexander III, would prove to be the conservative opposite of his father and hold down the boiling pot that was Russia until it finally erupted under Nicholas II.

Drama, Romance, Heroism, Betrayal -- What More Could Be Asked?

I have been an avid consumer of Russian history books since I was a small child. (My father taught Russian history). I had always admired Emperor Alexander II, who freed the peasants from centuries-old enslavement, and tried to steer Russia on a moderate course. I had always wondered why this handsome, kindly, romantic and very able ruler never got a good modern biography like Russia's other two great rulers, Peter the Great, and Catherine the Great. Edvard Radzinsky's book definitely meets the need for a readable, dramatic account of Alexander II's life. It reads like a historical novel, filled with drama and intrigue. But it is the true story of a hero who was eventually murdered -- just as he was preparing Russsia's first constitution -- and who may have been betrayed to his death through an odd alliance between his opponents on the extreme left and the extreme right, neither of whom wanted Alexander to create a moderate, constitutional government. I had not known that Alexander's court also feared that he would replace the heir to the throne -- his very conservative, reactionary oldest son, Grand Duke Alexander, with his much younger half-brother, Gregory, Alexander's son by a mistress that he had recently married. It is a valuable cautionary tale for anyone seeking to create major societal change -- or anyone seeking an absorbing, eventful story as fascinating as any of the novels of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky that were written during Alexander's reign.

Great stuff

Finally a biography has done justice to Alexander II. In the past Russian biography of the Tsars focused on Nicholas II, and Peter the Great and perhaps Catherine the Great. Alexander II, the great reformer was passed over as boring, since he didnt die at the hands of the Communists and didnt consider murdering his own son or have sex with his greatest generals. THis book sheds light on 19th century russia, the freeing of the Serfs and heady times in the end of the Romanov period. Good reading, excellent scholarship, something new. Seth J. Frantzman

A Very Russian Biography

In Alexander II, as in his earlier biographies of Nicholas II, Rasputin, and Stalin, Edvard Radzinsky has written a biography of a Russian which only a Russian could write. His story of Alexander II's life and reign and its impact on Russia is filled with omens, fatalistic musings and asides, and wry commentaries on present day Russian life. At first this can be somewhat distracting if you are used to a more straightforward approach to biography, but as you read on you begin to grasp the rhythm and appreciate the literary style. Alexander II was responsible for one of the longest periods of reform Tsarist Russia ever experienced. The 1860s and 1870s were a period of ferment and rapid change, as serfdom came to an end, censorship was relaxed, and Russians began to have wider contacts with the industrialized West. At the same time terrorism increased dramatically as many Russians demanded more change than the Tsar was willing to permit. Radzinsky does a good job of detailing the Tsar's vacillations as he made one move towards liberalism, then took two steps back towards reaction, then sidled back towards reform. Students of Russian history will recognize this as the same character flaw that doomed Alexander II's grandson Nicholas II. They will also realize that Radzinsky is also drawing parallels between the perestroika/glasnost period of 1985-1991 in the former Soviet Union and Alexander's 19th century reforms. (I was interested to see the word "glasnost" used by some of the Tsar's reformers.) Radzinsky also covers the "Russian Renaissance", as Alexander II's early reign was known, with good descriptions of the careers of Tolstoy and Dostoevsky, among many others. The Tsar's private life, including his early love for his wife Marie of Hesse-Darmstadt and his later affair/marriage with Princess Catherine Yurievskaya, is also well covered, as is Alexander's sometimes troubled relationships with his six sons and one daughter. Finally, Radzinsky does an excellent job describing the Tsar's assassination and the intricate plots and attempts that led up to it, with a nice summation of the successes and failures of the reign and their impact on future Russian history. This is an excellent read which not only illuminates a period of Russian history which is often overlooked, but also helps the reader grasp something of the Russian character.