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.