If you are interested in the story of the Romanovs' pet prophet this is the book to read.' Boris Akunin, author of the Erast Fandorin mysteries
A century after his murder, Rasputin is still widely seen as the personification of evil and the truth has remained shrouded in myth. In this acclaimed biography, Douglas Smith separates fact from fiction to reveal the real Rasputin in all his complexity - man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. The result is not only a definitive biography of an extraordinary man, it is also a riveting portrait of the twilight of imperial Russia as it lurched toward catastrophe.
'Douglas Smith begins this impressive biography by rubbishing almost everything previously written, stripping away a century of myth, fabrication, gossip and lies . . . a fascinating, often entertaining, biography.' The Times
'The definitive new biography' Anne Applebaum, Harper's Magazine
'An admirably encyclopaedic account of the fantasy life of early-twentieth-century Russians, as well as a multifaceted image of the Rasputin of their imagination . . . richly illuminating' Lucy Hughes-Hallett, New Statesman