New Releases by Robert K. Massie

''Nicolaas en Alexandra'' van Robert K. Massie is een prachtige en meeslepende biografie van het laatste tsarenpaar van Rusland. Pulitzer-prijswinnaar Robert K. Massie schetst in ‘Nicolaas en Alexandra’ een fascinerend panorama van de laatste jaren van het Russische tsarenrijk. Op 17 juli 1918 werden tsaar Nicolaas II, zijn vrouw Alexandra en hun kinderen vermoord door de bolsjewieken. Massie geeft in dit boek een intrigerend beeld van het hofleven en de politieke ontwikkelingen die aan deze moord vooraf gingen. Zowel in de privésfeer als in de politiek hadden Nicolaas en Alexandra het zwaar. Hun zoon Alexis leed aan bloederziekte en Nicolaas’ politieke naïviteit zorgde ervoor dat de obscure monnik Raspoetin grote invloed aan het hof kreeg. Aan de hand van dagboeken, brieven en memoires geeft Massie in ‘Nicolaas en Alexandra’ een prachtige karakterschets van de hoofdfiguren in dit historische drama. Eerder verscheen van Massie de succesvolle titel ‘Peter de Grote’.

Em julho de 1991, nove esqueletos foram exumados de uma cova rasa perto de Ekaterinburg, na Sibéria, a pouca distância do infame porão onde o último czar e sua família foram assassinados setenta e três anos antes. Mas seriam aqueles os ossos dos Romanov? E se fossem, descobertos após mais de sete décadas, onde estariam os ossos dos dois mais jovens, supostamente mortos junto com a família? Os Romanov: o fim da dinastia traz as respostas, contando os horripilantes momentos do massacre, revelando a culpa e a dissimulação de Lênin e seus comparsas, e relatando em detalhes dramáticos e cheios de suspense as bem-sucedidas tentativas para descobrir a verdade na Rússia pós-comunista. Este livro singular, escrito à maneira de uma história de detetives por Robert K. Massie, historiador e ganhador do Prêmio Pulitzer de literatura, traz um panorama vívido povoado por figuras contemporâneas, a começar por dois investigadores russos que, enfrentando tremendas adversidades, acabam encontrando o lugar secreto em que foram enterrados os corpos da família imperial russa. Aqui são relatados os papéis fundamentais do secretário de Estado dos Estados Unidos, James Baker, do presidente da Rússia, Boris Yeltsin, e do príncipe Philip da Inglaterra. Uma acirrada disputa entre uma equipe de cientistas russos e outra de norte-americanos, que inclui o dr. William Maples e Michael Baden, além de ferrenhos antagonistas com alta formação em ciências forenses cujas descobertas, somadas às de cientistas especializados em pesquisas de DNA na Rússia, Estados Unidos e Inglaterra, contribuíram para solucionar o mistério. A falta de dois esqueletos na cova comum deu margem ao aparecimento de vários reivindicantes ao trono da Rússia. Seria Anna Anderson, citada e famosa durante mais de sessenta anos em notícias de jornal, livros e filmes, a grã-duquesa Anastácia? Se não era a grã-duquesa, quem era ela?

''Peter de Grote'' van Robert K. Massie is een monumentale biografie van een legendarische tsaar. ''Peter de Grote'' van Robert K. Massie is de beste en meest uitvoerige biografie over de Russische tsaar Peter de Grote die tot op heden is verschenen. Robert K. Massie toont Peter in zijn jonge jaren en schetst zijn strijd om de macht en zijn pogingen om Rusland militair, technisch en cultureel tot een grote mogendheid te maken. Het door Peter de Grote gestichte Sint-Petersburg werd het symbool van zijn oriëntatie op Europa. Massie brengt de persoon tot leven: koppig en onstuimig, teder en wreed, genereus en meedogenloos - een energieke maar complexe persoonlijkheid. Elk hoofdstuk in deze boeiend geschreven biografie laat zich lezen als een kort verhaal.

Com a biografia de Nicolau II, o último czar, e de sua esposa, Alexandra, Robert Massie - ganhador do Prêmio Pulitzer e autor do bestseller Catarina, a Grande - lança um olhar fascinante sobre os últimos dias da dinastia que, do século XVII até a Revolução de 1917, comandou o Império Russo. Em 1894, o jovem e ingênuo Nicolau assumiu o trono do Império Russo. Como se não bastasse a falta de preparo e temperamento adequados para a função, o novo czar ainda precisou lidar com a crescente agitação social que, por fim, resultaria na Revolução Russa, em 1917. A queda da Dinastia Romanov é bastante conhecida, porém, mais do que um relato político, Robert Massie revela aqui a história dos protagonistas do crepúsculo do grande império: o último czar e sua esposa. Depois que o pequeno Alexei, herdeiro do trono, nasce com hemofilia, o casal tenta esconder o fato do país e passa a confiar ao monge Grigori Rasputin a tarefa de tratar do menino. Fosse pelo despreparo, ou por receio de expor o filho, ambos se isolaram em sua vida doméstica. Porém, distantes e reclusos, foram incapazes de prever a crescente insatisfação popular. Quando ela chegou, já era tarde demais. Nessa biografia definitiva, considerada um clássico contemporâneo, Massie combina de maneira extraordinária o cuidadoso trabalho de pesquisa ao relato instigante de um dos episódios mais decisivos do século XX. Um lembrete de que por trás dos grandes eventos e acontecimentos políticos encontram-se homens e mulheres de carne e osso, enfrentando escolhas e dilemas semelhantes a qualquer um de nós.

Der er meget få kvinder i verdenshistorien, der har haft så vigtig en position og så stor en magt som den russiske kejserinde Katarina den Store. I 34 år – fra 1762 til 1794 – sad hun som enehersker over det kæmpemæssige russiske imperium, og under hendes styre voksede Rusland, både i areal og i magt, således at det ved hendes død stod som en af Europas førende magter. Pulitzer-prisvinder Robert Massie fortæller Katarina den Stores farverige historie i alle detaljer. Storpolitikken, krigene, hoflivet, intrigerne, kærlighedsaffærerne – det hele rulles op for læseren i en fremstilling, der på én gang er blændende underholdning og historieskrivning af højeste karat. Den amerikanske historiker og journalist Robert K. Massie (f. 1929) er en af USA''s førende inden for russisk historie. Han har tidligere skrevet adskillige anmelderroste bøger om den russiske tsar-familie, Romanov-slægten, heriblandt biografien "Peter the Great – His Life and World", som vandt Pulitzer-prisen i 1981.

Against a monumental backdrop of fabulous splendour, intrigue and barbaric cruelty, unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history. This is the story of the Romanovs, from the Tsar who brought Russia from darkness into light, to one of the greatest female rulers in history, and ultimately to the death-marked royals who watched their empire crumble. PETER THE GREAT: Crowned at the age of 10, Peter embodied the greatest strengths and weaknesses of Russia while being at the very forefront of her development. CATHERINE THE GREAT: In 1762, Catherine rode out of St Petersburg at the head of an army to arrest her husband. Three months later, at the age of just 33, she became sole empress of the largest empire on earth. NICHOLAS AND ALEXANDRA: The story of Nicholas''s political naivete, Alexandra''s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis''s brave struggle with haemophilia.

Esta es la historia de una modesta princesa alemana que a los 14 años de edad fue enviada a Rusia con el único fin de que se casase y diese un heredero al imperio, y que acabó reinando durante 34 años. De ella se nos han conservado tres versiones distintas: la de una ilustrada que mantenía correspondencia con Diderot y con Voltaire; la de una mujer corrompida que cambiaba constantemente de amantes (la “Mesalina del norte”), y la de una gobernante despótica, decidida a modernizar Rusia, que mereció por ello que se la recordase como “la Grande”. Robert K. Massie se ha enfrentado a este laberinto de imágenes contradictorias para buscar la verdad humana del personaje y ofrecernos, en contrapartida, el ”retrato de una mujer”. Autor de obras de tanto éxito como Nicolás y Alejandra y Pedro el Grande, por las que obtuvo el Premio Pulitzer, Massie, que es uno de los maestros de la biografía literaria, ha conseguido de nuevo un libro memorable, del que los críticos han dicho que nos ofrece “una gran historia contada por un maestro de la narración”.

A “magnificent and intimate” (Harper’s) modern classic of Russian history, the spellbinding story of the love that ended an empire—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, The Romanovs, and Catherine the Great “A moving, rich book . . . [This] revealing, densely documented account of the last Romanovs focuses not on the great events . . . but on the royal family and their evil nemesis. . . . The tale is so bizarre, no melodrama is equal to it.”—Newsweek In this commanding book, New York Times bestselling author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of the Russian empire to tell the story of the Romanovs’ lives: Nicholas’s political naïveté, Alexandra’s obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis’s brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history—the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble.

A gripping chronicle of the personal and national rivalries that led to the twentieth century’s first great arms race, from Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie With the biographer’s rare genius for expressing the essence of extraordinary lives, Massie brings to life a crowd of glittery figures: the single-minded Admiral von Tirpitz; the young, ambitious Winston Churchill; the ruthless, sycophantic Chancellor Bernhard von Bülow; Britain’s greatest twentieth-century foreign secretary, Sir Edward Grey; and Jacky Fisher, the eccentric admiral who revolutionized the British navy and brought forth the first true battleship, the H.M.S. Dreadnought. Their story, and the story of the era, filled with misunderstandings, missed opportunities, and events leading to unintended conclusions, unfolds like a Greek tragedy in this powerful narrative. Intimately human and dramatic, Dreadnought is history at its most riveting. Praise for Dreadnought “Dreadnought is history in the grand manner, as most people prefer it: how people shaped, or were shaped by, events.”—Time “A classic [that] covers superbly a whole era . . . engrossing in its glittering gallery of characters.”—Chicago Sun-Times “[Told] on a grand scale . . . Massie [is] a master of historical portraiture and anecdotage.”—The Wall Street Journal “Brilliant on everything he writes about ships and the sea. It is Massie’s eye for detail that makes his nautical set pieces so marvelously evocative.”—Los Angeles Times

A “masterful” (The Washington Post Book World) account of the quest to solve one of the great mysteries in Russian history—from the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Catherine the Great “Riveting . . . unfolds like a detective story.”—Los Angeles Times Book Review In July 1991, nine skeletons were exhumed from a shallow mass grave near Ekaterinburg, Siberia, a few miles from the infamous cellar room where the last tsar and his family had been murdered seventy-three years before. But were these the bones of the Romanovs? And if these were their remains, where were the bones of the two younger Romanovs supposedly murdered with the rest of the family? Was Anna Anderson, celebrated for more than sixty years in newspapers, books, and film, really Grand Duchess Anastasia? The Romanovs provides the answers, describing in suspenseful detail the dramatic efforts to discover the truth. Pulitzer Prize winner Robert K. Massie presents a colorful panorama of contemporary characters, illuminating the major scientific dispute between Russian experts and a team of Americans, whose findings, along with those of DNA scientists from Russia, America, and Great Britain, all contributed to solving one of the great mysteries of the twentieth century.

“[A] tale of power, perseverance and passion . . . a great story in the hands of a master storyteller.”—The Wall Street Journal The Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and The Romanovs returns with another masterpiece of narrative biography, the extraordinary story of an obscure German princess who became one of the most remarkable, powerful, and captivating women in history. Born into a minor noble family, Catherine transformed herself into empress of Russia by sheer determination. For thirty-four years, the government, foreign policy, cultural development, and welfare of the Russian people were in her hands. She dealt with domestic rebellion, foreign wars, and the tidal wave of political change and violence churned up by the French Revolution. Catherine’s family, friends, ministers, generals, lovers, and enemies—all are here, vividly brought to life. History offers few stories richer than that of Catherine the Great. In this book, an eternally fascinating woman is returned to life. “[A] compelling portrait not just of a Russian titan, but also of a flesh-and-blood woman.”—Newsweek “An absorbing, satisfying biography.”—Los Angeles Times “Juicy and suspenseful.”—The New York Times Book Review “A great life, indeed, and irresistibly told.”—Salon NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times • The Washington Post • USA Today • The Boston Globe • San Francisco Chronicle • Chicago Tribune • Newsweek/The Daily Beast • Salon • Vogue • St. Louis Post-Dispatch • The Providence Journal • Washington Examiner • South Florida Sun-Sentinel • BookPage • Bookreporter • Publishers Weekly BONUS: This edition contains a Catherine the Great reader''s guide.

In a work of extraordinary narrative power, filled with brilliant personalities and vivid scenes of dramatic action, Robert K. Massie, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Peter the Great, Nicholas and Alexandra, and Dreadnought, elevates to its proper historical importance the role of sea power in the winning of the Great War. The predominant image of this first world war is of mud and trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, poison gas, and slaughter. A generation of European manhood was massacred, and a wound was inflicted on European civilization that required the remainder of the twentieth century to heal. But with all its sacrifice, trench warfare did not win the war for one side or lose it for the other. Over the course of four years, the lines on the Western Front moved scarcely at all; attempts to break through led only to the lengthening of the already unbearably long casualty lists. For the true story of military upheaval, we must look to the sea. On the eve of the war in August 1914, Great Britain and Germany possessed the two greatest navies the world had ever seen. When war came, these two fleets of dreadnoughts—gigantic floating castles of steel able to hurl massive shells at an enemy miles away—were ready to test their terrible power against each other. Their struggles took place in the North Sea and the Pacific, at the Falkland Islands and the Dardanelles. They reached their climax when Germany, suffocated by an implacable naval blockade, decided to strike against the British ring of steel. The result was Jutland, a titanic clash of fifty-eight dreadnoughts, each the home of a thousand men. When the German High Seas Fleet retreated, the kaiser unleashed unrestricted U-boat warfare, which, in its indiscriminate violence, brought a reluctant America into the war. In this way, the German effort to “seize the trident” by defeating the British navy led to the fall of the German empire. Ultimately, the distinguishing feature of Castles of Steel is the author himself. The knowledge, understanding, and literary power Massie brings to this story are unparalleled. His portrayals of Winston Churchill, the British admirals Fisher, Jellicoe, and Beatty, and the Germans Scheer, Hipper, and Tirpitz are stunning in their veracity and artistry. Castles of Steel is about war at sea, leadership and command, courage, genius, and folly. All these elements are given magnificent scope by Robert K. Massie’ s special and widely hailed literary mastery. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Robert K. Massie''s Catherine the Great.

The tragic, compelling story of the last Tsar and his family Nicholas & Alexandra is the internationally famous biography from Pulitzer prize-winner Robert Massie. Massie shows conclusively how the personal curse of the young heir''s haemophilia, and the decisive influence it brought Rasputin, became fatally linked with the collapse of Imperial Russia. As an engrossing account of one of the century''s most dramatic episodes - and an intimate portrait of two people caught at the centre of a maelstrom - Nicholas & Alexandra is unlikely ever to be surpassed. ''The story of the last Tsar has probably never been so powerfully - and so accurately - told'' Guardian