Rating: 
Summary: a gorgeous photographic essay
Review: This is one of the best photographic books on the Romanovs I have seen. It uses rare archive materical the Communists preserved. It's like a small time travelling trip. A book worth buying if you are interested in the Romanovs or photography.
Rating:
Summary: Absolute Excellence!
Review: This is probably THE best photographic tribute to Nicholas II and his family that I have read. It has more photographs than any other book except "Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia," and unlike that book, it includes a coherent narrative of the Romanovs' lives and deaths. The photographs are breathtaking, and the writing is good. It includes numerous quotes from previously unpublished letters and diaries of the Tsar and Empress and their five children. The information on the children is especially appreciated, since it is so hard to find books that deal with any of the daughters except Anastasia.One flaw that irritated me a great deal was the translation of the Romanovs' letters and diary entries. For example, one fragment was translated "Talked with golden Mitya... nice, sweet he is." Word order is less important in Russian than it is in English; without having access to the original Russian, I can still guess that a correct translation would have been "he is nice, sweet." Another entry is translated "a bit of him she is," instead of the much better "she is a bit of him." Similar mutilations of grammar occur throughout the book's quotes. This sort of thing is just plain sloppy, and very annoying. The other fault I want to mention is from the chapter on Empress Alexandra's childhood. It was written by Dr. Manfred Knodt, who wrote a biography of Alexandra's brother, in German. The chapter quotes from Alexandra's mother, Alice's, letters to HER mother, Queen Victoria. These letters were originally written in English. They were published in English; this volume was then translated into German. The quotes from Alice's letters don't match the English volume; my guess is that the author worked from the German edition, and these quotes were then translated into English. Another minor thing, but sloppy. An editor ought to have caught this. So, overall, the pictures are beautiful and the writing is good. A few sloppy errors in translation, but still one of the best books I've read on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful photographic tribute to the last tsar
Review: This is probably THE best photographic tribute to Nicholas II and his family that I have read. It has more photographs than any other book except "Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia," and unlike that book, it includes a coherent narrative of the Romanovs' lives and deaths. The photographs are breathtaking, and the writing is good. It includes numerous quotes from previously unpublished letters and diaries of the Tsar and Empress and their five children. The information on the children is especially appreciated, since it is so hard to find books that deal with any of the daughters except Anastasia. One flaw that irritated me a great deal was the translation of the Romanovs' letters and diary entries. For example, one fragment was translated "Talked with golden Mitya... nice, sweet he is." Word order is less important in Russian than it is in English; without having access to the original Russian, I can still guess that a correct translation would have been "he is nice, sweet." Another entry is translated "a bit of him she is," instead of the much better "she is a bit of him." Similar mutilations of grammar occur throughout the book's quotes. This sort of thing is just plain sloppy, and very annoying. The other fault I want to mention is from the chapter on Empress Alexandra's childhood. It was written by Dr. Manfred Knodt, who wrote a biography of Alexandra's brother, in German. The chapter quotes from Alexandra's mother, Alice's, letters to HER mother, Queen Victoria. These letters were originally written in English. They were published in English; this volume was then translated into German. The quotes from Alice's letters don't match the English volume; my guess is that the author worked from the German edition, and these quotes were then translated into English. Another minor thing, but sloppy. An editor ought to have caught this. So, overall, the pictures are beautiful and the writing is good. A few sloppy errors in translation, but still one of the best books I've read on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful photographic tribute to the last tsar
Review: This is probably THE best photographic tribute to Nicholas II and his family that I have read. It has more photographs than any other book except "Nicholas and Alexandra: The Last Imperial Family of Tsarist Russia," and unlike that book, it includes a coherent narrative of the Romanovs' lives and deaths. The photographs are breathtaking, and the writing is good. It includes numerous quotes from previously unpublished letters and diaries of the Tsar and Empress and their five children. The information on the children is especially appreciated, since it is so hard to find books that deal with any of the daughters except Anastasia. One flaw that irritated me a great deal was the translation of the Romanovs' letters and diary entries. For example, one fragment was translated "Talked with golden Mitya... nice, sweet he is." Word order is less important in Russian than it is in English; without having access to the original Russian, I can still guess that a correct translation would have been "he is nice, sweet." Another entry is translated "a bit of him she is," instead of the much better "she is a bit of him." Similar mutilations of grammar occur throughout the book's quotes. This sort of thing is just plain sloppy, and very annoying. The other fault I want to mention is from the chapter on Empress Alexandra's childhood. It was written by Dr. Manfred Knodt, who wrote a biography of Alexandra's brother, in German. The chapter quotes from Alexandra's mother, Alice's, letters to HER mother, Queen Victoria. These letters were originally written in English. They were published in English; this volume was then translated into German. The quotes from Alice's letters don't match the English volume; my guess is that the author worked from the German edition, and these quotes were then translated into English. Another minor thing, but sloppy. An editor ought to have caught this. So, overall, the pictures are beautiful and the writing is good. A few sloppy errors in translation, but still one of the best books I've read on the subject.
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Wow. This is the most beautiful, definitive book on the Last Imperial Family--from letters of their daughters to rare photographs (which I really enjoy looking at) and things that don't focus on Anastasia. The little annoyance was the horrid grammar they used in Olga's letters: Russian grammar isn't as "precise" as English and it's really driving me crazy because it seems like the children were stupid when all (ESPECIALLY Olga) were very intelligent.
Rating:
Summary: Wow.
Review: Wow. This is the most beautiful, definitive book on the Last Imperial Family--from letters of their daughters to rare photographs (which I really enjoy looking at) and things that don't focus on Anastasia. The little annoyance was the horrid grammar they used in Olga's letters: Russian grammar isn't as "precise" as English and it's really driving me crazy because it seems like the children were stupid when all (ESPECIALLY Olga) were very intelligent.
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