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Behind the Veil at the Russian Court | 
 enlarge | Author: Paul Vasili
Publisher: BookSurge Publishing
Category: Book
List Price: $26.99
Buy New: $25.95
You Save: $1.04 (4%)
New (4) Used (1) from $24.98
Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 404934
Media: Paperback
Pages: 438
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.3
Dimensions (in): 8 x 5.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 1402197489
EAN: 9781402197482
ASIN: 1402197489
Publication Date: June 14, 2002
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1914 edition by Cassell and Co., Ltd., London, New York, Toronto and Melbourne.
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| Customer Reviews:
A poignant time capusle September 26, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When I first ordered this book I thought at best I would be getting something that was gossipy, dated, and full of claims time would have proved false. What this book does is provide insight into the reigns of the four last Tsars of Russia as well as a frozen picture of life right before the Revolution from the perception of someone who was there.
It was kind of surreal to me because this book, published in 1913, is presented in the current tense of Imperial Russia right before war and the mother of all Revolutions. And because we know what comes next it is almost moving. I find the author (or authoress, almost certainly Catherine Radziwill), to be amazingly in tune with the fact that Russia is on the verge of a revolution that will overthrow the entire social order (unlike the 1905 revolution which failed). Her dislike of the last Tsar Nicholas is palatable. There are some portions where she appears to be guessing to the point of absurdity (claiming the young Alexei beat his sisters), or where subsequent events make the most fleeting phrases sadder than originally intended (claiming that the Grand Duchess Elizabeth's selfless charity work among the poor would serve as her protection in the event of another Revolution...this same Elizbeth who would be thrown down a mineshaft when the revolution came 5 years later). But what is gripping to me is that this book is a frozen time capsule, the voice of someone speaking to us, giving opinions, and describing her world, from a distant generation.
Fascinating contemporary account of the end of the dynasty March 4, 2008
15 out of 16 found this review helpful
The author of this book, Count Paul Vasili, was actually Princess Catherine Radziwill, who knew her subjects quite well. However, documents made available since the book was published, have clarified some points and proven Radziwill wrong on a few others. All in all, the book gives a pretty good contemporaneous account of life in "royal Russia" under the last three Romanov czars, and Radziwill's commentary makes for very interesting reading for anyone interested in the subject of the Romanov dynasty and how it came to an end. Radziwill does her very best to present an evenly balanced portrait of her subject; her occasional biases make perfect sense if one understands the sources she had for her information, and her grasp of politics of the times is, for a woman who was not involved in the government of the nation, quite remarkable.
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