Nicholas And Alexandra

Nicholas and Alexandra (1969) by Robert K. Massie (Dell)
ISBN: none
Condition: Used (imperially worn, revolution-tested) as sold by Crappy Old Books

Here it is: the sweeping, brick-sized biography of Russia’s last tsar and tsarina – a love story, a political tragedy and a multi-car pile-up of bad decisions, all wrapped in one eminently readable paperback. In Nicholas and Alexandra, Robert K. Massie patiently lays out how an anxious, devout, well-meaning royal couple managed to preside over the slow, spectacular collapse of a 300-year-old dynasty, while sincerely believing they were doing their best.

Nicholas II, a man arguably better suited to a quiet country estate and a modest stamp collection, finds himself in charge of an empire the size of a continent. Alexandra, fiercely devoted, chronically unwell and deeply suspicious of anyone not named “Nicky” or “God,” clings to mysticism and one very unsettling monk in an effort to keep their haemophiliac son alive. Add in Rasputin, court intrigue, industrial unrest, an unfortunate war or two and a general refusal to read the room, and you get a front-row seat to the end of imperial Russia.

Massie walks you through it all: palaces and poverty, family letters and secret police reports, glittering balls and bread lines. It is history written with the pacing of a novel and the inevitability of a slow-motion train wreck. You know exactly how this story ends and yet you keep thinking, hopelessly, that someone might make a different choice this time. Spoiler: they do not.

Your particular copy of this epic arrives courtesy of Crappy Old Books, who specialise in volumes that have already survived a regime change or two. You may notice:

• A cover with light fading and scuffing, as though it has spent time being moved from one shelf to another while someone said “I really must get around to reading that.”

• A spine handsomely creased, proof that at least one previous reader bravely pushed past the family tree charts at the front.

• Corners gently rounded, like the edges of a map handled a few times too often by nervous generals.

Inside, everything that matters is still intact: all the chapters, photographs, notes and ominous foreshadowing are present and correct. The pages may be mellowed to a dignified shade of ivory, which suits a fallen empire rather well. If there are any faint pencil marks or underlinings, they are almost certainly reactions such as “oh no” or “this will not end well.” No crucial coronations or revolutions are missing, and the Romanovs remain, regrettably, doomed.

Buying Nicholas and Alexandra in Used condition from Crappy Old Books comes with its own historical charm. You are reading about the decline of a glittering but outdated regime in a book that has itself lost its original glossy sheen and now lives a more modest life. It is thematically perfect: the story of an empire that could not modernise, told in a paperback that already has.

Ideal for readers who:

• Enjoy their history with a generous side of family drama, political misjudgment and ominous portents.

• Want to understand how “it’ll probably be fine” is not, in fact, a viable governing strategy.

• Secretly like large biographies because they look impressive on shelves and double as light arm workouts.

Adopt this Used copy of Nicholas and Alexandra and give it a new throne on your bookcase. The exterior may be a little worn, but the tale inside is still grand, heartbreaking and inexhaustibly fascinating – a reminder that even absolute monarchs cannot outrun history, though they can leave behind one very compelling paperback.

Keep browsing: See more History books Other books by Robert K Massie