“Ekaterinburg is the name of the town the Romanovs, the Imperial family of Russia were kept in the weeks leading up to their execution. Helen Rappaport, the author, writes well and I like the way the book is laid out, with each chapter taking on a day in the house they were kept in and a different member of the family.
The only gripe I have with this book is that for a complete novice on Russian history, which I have to confes myself to be, it doesn't give enough information on the social and political background of Russia at the time.
Yes in 1918 Russia was sill embroiled in World War I, so was virtually every country at th time. The book tells me that Nicholas Romanov was probably not the best person to be Tsar of Russia, him and his wife Alexandra were very private, insular people who didn't make themselves visible to their countrymen. Alexandra was German, which could not have been good n that political climate.
Still, it isn't made completely clear why Nicholas Romanov was called "Nicholas the Bloody". Russia was in the midst of a revolution, but why?
In short, as well writtten ad interesting as this book is, there is not enough detail given asto Why Nicholas Romanov and his family were executed by firing squad. What was it that made him to blame for Russia's state at the time considering at this time he'd already abdicated?
Basically this book conjured up more questions than answers for me. In a way that's a good thing it will lead me to read up more on the subject but as a stand alone book that wasn't what I wanted from it.
Ms Rappaport you are a good writer but us Russian history novices need more detail please!”

A tough read after "The Romanov Sisters." A tough read anyway.

very poignant, a shining example of how historical nonfiction is most successfully relayed; informative, powerful, humanising

Rappaport synthesizes a great deal of information into a suspenseful story about the final days of Tsar Nicholas and his family. It drags in some places, but that's a testament to how thorough her research is.

A well-written and researched narrative detailing the terrible final days in July, 1918, when the Romanov family was imprisoned and eventually executed in the wake of the Bolshevik revolution. We all know the basic story, of course, but here is a very up-close and personal look at the family as they prayed and waited and endured horrors no living being should ever have to face. Each chapter provides snippets of history (remember, these were also the last days of World War I) as well as glimpses into the individual characters of the family and their tormentors. It addresses the overall revolution and general state of Russia in broad terms (it's waaaaaay too much to try to explain in this book) but makes a point of tying in some of the specific politics and machinations with the immediate, desperate circumstances of the Romanovs.

There are clearly some strong author's opinions throughout the book, and Rappaport admits that she drew some of her own conclusions, so the overall effect is marred. It's certainly not a romanticized view of the Romanovs (Tsar Nicholas was obviously ineffective at best, brutally inflexible at worst) but it certainly casts their executioners in the very worst light. (Not that it's a stretch for the reader to loathe people capable of slaughtering children then looting their corpses.) It's not particularly flattering to the other world leaders at the time, either; nobody, not a president nor monarch anywhere, was willing, capable, or organized enough to effect any kind of rescue. The whole bloody business was absolutely shameful for everyone, from the Bolshevik gunmen who massacred the family to the world press who announced the murders as if declaring a garbage strike. It's ugly stuff and Rappaport delivers all of the terrible, sometimes gruesome, details. This is a history book with teeth.

On an entirely technical note, I found myself distracted by typos and unusual phrasing throughout the book. And never have I missed the Oxford comma more.

Helen Rappaport does an excellent job in telling the story of the Romanov family.

We follow the family to Ekaterinburg, learn about their life in captivity, the struggles they went though and how they managed to stay hopeful of a rescue.

I read this book after Helen Rappaports more recent book,[b:The Romanov Sisters: The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra|18404173|The Romanov Sisters The Lost Lives of the Daughters of Nicholas and Alexandra|Helen Rappaport|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1396818138s/18404173.jpg|26038032], so I already had an understanding of the family dynamic. That made reading about their deaths even harder.

This book details the political climate in Russia and Europe at this time, the suffering this family endured and the planning that went into their assassination.
A very informative read while I would recommend to anyone interested in History.

A fascinating account of the last 14 days in the lives of the Russian Imperial family. I’m always on the look-out for quality history books, but to find a reliable historian is extremely difficult, especially when it comes to Russian and Soviet history. So it’s always great to find a new author to add to the library, and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for more of Helen Rappaport’s work.

Rappaport is an amazingly engaging writer and a diligent historian, and The Last Days of the Romanovs proves an absolutely cracking read. She handles her subjects with empathy, but doesn’t sanitize them, doesn't turn the Romanovs into saints. She also provides an incredibly astute historical context which helps to better understand the situation in Russia in 1917-1918 in general, and in Ekaterinburg in particular, providing an insight into the inner workings of the Ipatiev house, but not concentrating exclusively on it.

I have to remark on the chapter that details the execution of Nicholas and the family: in a pretty grim book, this one is downright devastating. Rappaport doesn’t savor or glamorize it, she categorizes all the horrors with almost clinical detachment, but she’s not unkind about it. It’s like she says, “Here’s the truth as I researched it and put together. Do with it what you see fit.”

Look, I’m really not a fan of any monarchy as a way of governance, and especially not a fan of Russian monarchy (I’m Ukrainian, anti-tsarism is in our blood), but I also have such a deep, burning, passionate hatred for Bolsheviks that even my distaste for monarchy can’t eclipse it. And the way Rappaport describes Bolsheviks, the Cheka, the whole sordid affair of the Revolution is so close to the way I learned about it listening to the stories of my parents and grandparents. The way the Bolsheviks killed 11 people, 5 of whom were practically children, mutilated their bodies, and then pilfered their possessions (all in the name of the Revolution, of course) just reminded me about tons of people in numerous countries under the Soviet regime who shared in the same fate at the hands of these thugs and murderers who called what they were doing a “will of the people”.

And today’s Russia functions on absolutely the same principles filled to the brim with propagandists and rabid bigoted Orthodox Christians, with a murderous tsar-batyushka as their leader. And it’s maddening and frustrating to see how Western Europe and America simply continue to believe the lies of this dangerous, destructive country.