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Rasputin

The Biography

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Rasputin

By: Douglas Smith
Narrated by: PJ Ochlan
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About this listen

A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. The spectre of the lustful Siberian holy man and peasant still casts its eerie shadow over Russia's bloody twentieth century. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra's confidant and guardian of the sickly heir to the throne. His debauchery and sinister political influence are the stuff of legend, and the downfall of the Romanov dynasty was laid at his feet. Even during his lifetime Rasputin was shrouded in myth and his true story remains obscure today.

Douglas Smith's Rasputin separates fact from fiction to reveal the true life of one of history's most alluring figures. Rasputin draws on a wealth of forgotten documents from archives in seven countries and is the most thoroughly researched biography ever written. Demolishing the caricature of the holy devil, Smith's account presents Rasputin in all his complexity - man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard. More than just the story of an extraordinary life, Rasputin offers a fascinating portrait of the twilight of Imperial Russia as it lurched towards catastrophe.

 20th Century Historical Military Modern Russia Biography War Scary Imperialism Middle Ages Soviet Union

Critic reviews

Douglas Smith has delivered the definitive biography that is brilliantly gripping, as hypnotic, wild and erotic in its revelations as the Mad Monk himself, sensitive in its human portrait, astute in its political analysis, superbly researched with rich new material gathered in faraway archives, and populated with the zaniest cast of the deranged Romanovs, depraved bishops, whores, mountebanks, adventuresses, mystics and murderers. (Simon Sebag Montefiore)
The most comprehensive account of Rasputin to date, brimming with complexities and fascinating detail, and stands as an enlightening re-evaluation of this crucial figure in Russian history.
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.
Utterly fascinating and foreniscally detailed . . .There are plenty of Rasputin biographies already, but its superlative scholarship and attention to detail put this one in a class of its own. (Dominic Sandbrook)
This brilliantly written, meticulously researched account of the life of Rasputin is the best, most complete and accurate I have ever read. Step by step, day by day, week by week in this life, Douglas Smith tells the story from its humble beginnings, through its obscene sexual chapters, to its violent end. He describes how a peasant became 'Our Friend' to the last emperor and empress of Russia. He explains why this dependency came at terrible cost for the imperial couple, for their children, for Russia, and for the Twentieth Century world. Readers will begin by saying that this is an impossible story to believe. They will read on because, in Douglas Smith's mesmerizing telling, it must be believed. And because it did happen. (Robert K. Massie, author of Nicholas and Alexandra)
Some years ago when working on a historical novel I had to read all the existing Rasputin biographies, and they do abound - in all literary styles and in many languages. What a pity that Douglas Smith's Rasputin had not yet been published, it would have saved me a lot of time. If you are interested in the story of the Romanovs' pet prophet this is the book to read. (Boris Akunin)
A prodigious piece of scholarship. Doug Smith's exhaustive and forensic examination of a wealth of new and previously unseen evidence finally lays to rest the tired old myth of 'the mad monk' and rightly positions Rasputin as a crucial figure in late Imperial Russian history. (Helen Rappaport, author of Four Sisters)
Douglas Smith understands that history is not only what happened, but what people think happened. In Rasputin, he deftly unpicks myth, legend and fact, separating and examining each thread, before weaving them back to create a pattern not merely of a man, but of a time, and a place, and a revolution. It is, itself, revolutionary. (Judith Flanders, author of A Circle of Sisters)
All stars
Most relevant
Douglas Smith has taken every story we know about Rasputin and delved into the facts like an historical detective. He has found discrepancies on dates and a lot of 'fake news'.
It is a fascinating, thorough read, which also imparts much about the desperation and susceptibility of the Russian Empress and society at the time.

Definitive biography on Rasputin

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Book ruined by the narrator. Is this a made up accent? Verbal emphasis in all the wrong places.

Narrator

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I understand the need to explain the historical context of a person but I do feel there was a bit too much about 'other' people ; it felt like the history of the Romanovs more than anything else. The murder of Rasputin was a very small section of the book and warranted further examination. The conclusion was nigh on non-existent. Still, a good book if looking for a more general history book. Could have been tightened by cutting down the length by half.

A good piece but overly long.

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Breaks through the myths of Rasputin and reveals something much more compelling about power, propaganda and belief.

An astounding achievement

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I'm fairly ignorant when it comes to history so a lot of this was new to me and I got a lot out of it. I've learnt a lot about Rasputin, Russian society before the revolution and some of the causes of the revolution and also the Orthodox Christian church. But boy is this a long book! You have to concentrate hard and I found the narrator's style a little odd and robotic. But I reccommend.

More (and less) to Rasputin than The Boney M song

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