Romanovs: Ruling Russia 1613-1917 By Lindsey Hughes
This was the first non fiction novel I read as part of my 2014 new year s resolution I found this quite laborious to read especially the early years where it was all dates and respectfully meaningless names There were however some memorable stories about individuals. Personally I found the chapters surrounding the last tsar Nicholas II Anastasia s father the most interesting Hardcover Packing 300 years of history into 248 pages is no small task but the author while battling cancer did an admirable job The book is readable for someone who has little to no previous knowledge of the dynasty Simultaneously I felt like I needed to write out a timeline to keep the massive amount of information straight Overall a very good introduction to a history that is lesser known Hardcover I really enjoyed this but there were times when I wished for detail I suppose that s inevitable in a history of such breadth Hughes could have gone off to explore a million different avenues and this book would have been a gajillion pages I do really wish there had been a lot photographs illustrations maps etc The lack of maps was really frustrating The bottom line is I discovered a ton people I d like to learn about and perhaps that s the point Hardcover An excellent primer on the Romanov dynasty from its beginnings with Michael Romanov in the seventeenth century For a quick overview this is the book for you Well written and exceptionally footnoted I felt the chapters on Alexander III and Nicholas II were all too brief compared to the other tsars however overall a worthy addition to the field of Russian history Hardcover Appreciated Hughes research and having this info all in one place As a dilettante I found the juicy history of these Romanovs reported in an inexplicably dry manner I did enjoy the author s generous take on Nicholas II and Alexandra On the plus side no academic jargon to slice my way through Hardcover A vivid and original portrait of the entire Romanov family who shaped Russian history and politics for three centuries and whose legacy still sparks the public s imagination Romanovs Ruling Russia 1613 1917Provides an academic overview of the 300 years of the Romanov dynasty I read this as a refresher on especially the earlier tsars who aren t often talked about in Romanov biographies and it was pretty much what I expected I do wish the book had been a little bit longer because it was much of an overview of people and policies than it was a deep dive However Hughes is able to identify connections and ideological patterns between relatives across the centuries and provides a balanced analysis of their successes and failings making this worth a read for enthusiasts on the subject I would not recommend this to casual readers who don t know much about the subject because it s a bit dense and academic that doesn t easily make for light reading Hardcover When one thinks of the Romanovs as Hughes points out one thinks of people being shot We those of us who are not historians of Russia tend to see Peter the Great and Catherine the Great as separate from the Romanovs even though they are both part of the dynasty In fact considering how many different houses that the British royal throne went though in the same time period Russia was very consistent This book is of any overview Each chapter deals with one or three Tsars though the fall of the dynasty dominates the last two chapters The first chapter deals with rise to power of the dynasty In many cases Hughes focuses on the lesser known Tsars and fleshed them out for the layman While Peter the Great and Catharine the Great get detailed chapter they are not presented at the cost of those other Tsars Though general Hughes goes into depth with some political background In many ways the book is a good starting place for gaining knowledge about the Tsar and not a specialize study What is interesting is how like in some ways censorship in particular certain Tsars were like to the Stalin state that would eventually follow them Hardcover An excellent history of the 300 years that the Romanovs ruled Russia. The last section on Nicholas and Alexandria was a bit thin on analysis and information on the revolution Sadly the author Lindsey Hughes was ill and would pass away the day after she finished the book. A recommended read Hardcover It was everything Hughes the author said it would be but I found myself wanting information It was too much to cover in too short a book I would still recommend though as it gives a nice high level overview of the Romanov family Hardcover I highly recommend this book along with the History Channel s Russia Land of the Tsars which I read watched back to back Each is an in depth look at 300 years of Tsars and Romanov rule of Russia and the people s view of the Russian Revolution in 1917 which ended it all Quite interresting and enjoyable Hardcover
| Romanovs: Ruling Russia 1613-1917 By Lindsey Hughes |
| 1847252133 |
| 9781847252135 |
| English |
| 308 |
| Hardcover |
Professor of History at the School of Slavonic and East European Studies part of University College London from 1997: The author does a good job helping us follow the sometimes convoluted and confusing relationships tracking given names versus the later given orthodox names can be challenging: It was interesting to see the social threads that continued into the 21st century..