Rasputin: The Last Word

Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, Russian peasant, monk and mystic, exercised extraordinary and malign power over the last Tsar and Tsarina of Russia and their haemophiliac son. His drunkenness, sexual excesses and nepotism – not to mention rumours that he was a German agent – led to his murder by a group of noblemen in December 1916. Mad monk or mystic, sham or shaman, few figures from contemporary history have captured the imagination like Rasputin. The enormous influence that this half-literate priest exerted over Tsarina Alexandra is one of history’s great enigmas; one which the author of this text sets out to unravel. Edvard Radzinsky gained access to a range of hitherto undiscovered material, in particular the proceedings of a Russian government investigation in 1917 which includes a wealth of interviews with people who had dealings with Rasputin. His murder is described from a new angel, re-examining the various conspiracy theories and describing the moments leading up to the murder against the backdrop of pre-Revolution Bacchanalia in the imperial city.