Simon Sebag Montefiore is the internationally bestselling author of a number of prize-winning books that have been published in forty-eight languages. Catherine the Great & Potemkin was shortlisted for the Samuel Johnson Prize; STALIN: THE COURT OF THE RED TSAR won the BBA History Book of the Year Prize; YOUNG STALIN won the Costa Biography Award, the LA Times Book Prize for Biography and the Grand Prix de la Biographie Politique; JERUSALEM: THE BIOGRAPHY won the JBC Book of the Year Prize and the Wenjin Book Prize in China; THE ROMANOVS: 1613-1918 won the Lupicaia del Terriccio Book Prize. He is the author of the Moscow Trilogy of novels: SASHENKA, RED SKY AT NOON and ONE NIGHT IN WINTER, which won the Political Fiction Book of the Year Award. He is also the author of WRITTEN IN HISTORY: LETTERS THAT CHANGED THE WORLD and the forthcoming VOICES OF HISTORY: SPEECHES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD.
'Simon Sebag Montefiore's The Romanovs is epic history on the
grandest scale . . . A story of conspiracy, drunken coups,
assassination, torture, impaling, breaking on the wheel, lethal
floggings with the knout, sexual and alcoholic excess, charlatans
and pretenders, flamboyant wealth based on a grinding serfdom, and,
not surprisingly, a vicious cycle of repression and revolt. Game of
Thrones seems like the proverbial vicar's tea party in comparison .
. . Reading Montefiore's excellent account, it is hard to imagine
how the monarchy could ever have survived under their catastrophic
leadership'
*FINANCIAL TIMES*
'Captivating . . . The story of the Romanovs has been told
countless times but never with such a compelling combination of
literary flair, narrative drive, solid research and psychological
insight. The Romanovs covers it all, from war and diplomacy to
institution building and court intrigue, but it is chiefly an
intimate portrait that brings to life the twenty sovereigns of
Russia in vivid fashion . . . Montefiore writes with subtlety and
sophistication about the nature of court life, the dynamics of
power and the shifting configurations of the various players'
*LITERARY REVIEW*
'Don't let its size fool you:There's never been a more inviting
700-plus-page historical tome. That's because the author, who
matches rigorous scholarship with a novelist's eye for delicious
details, is clearly having so much fun. And why not? In three
centuries, the Romanovs produced titans and weaklings, war and
peace, and enough salacious behavior to make us say, "Turn off thy
Kardashians! Pick up thy Montefiore!"'
*O MAGAZINE*
'Montefiore has an eye for the telling detail which lifts an
unfamiliar narrative. His mammoth history of Russia's royal dynasty
features many such vivid, amusing and surprising particulars.
Indeed it is startlingly lubricious and gory . . . Gore and sex
aside, the author's pen produces reams of fluent, sometimes
sparkling prose. Many of his reflections on the Romanov era apply
well to Vladimir Putin's domains now . . . The Russian court was an
entrepot of power: its role as a broker allowed participants to
amass wealth and bonded them in shared loyalty. But it also allowed
them to compete without resorting to civil war or revolution. That
sounds pretty much like the modern Kremlin'
*THE ECONOMIST*
'Charts the rise and fall of Russia's Romanov dynasty, which began
in 1613 and ended with the whole royal family being shot dead in a
basement in 1918. It has been painstakingly researched and the
attention to historical detail is breathtaking. The lives of 20
tsars and tsarinas are recorded in exquisite detail through words
and pictures. Although some of their escapades are not for the
faint-hearted (the Russians were barbaric in their punishments) the
rich and vibrant history is utterly compelling. It grabs you by the
hand and thrusts you into the world of Imperial Russia with all its
decadence and finery. Montefiore has become a popular presenter of
BBC history programmes on subjects ranging from Jerusalem to Spain,
and here his clear, concise narration and wonderful tone make this
a delight to read. Ideal for students of history or for those just
seduced by the BBC's version of War and Peace and wanting to brush
up on their history'
*THE SUN*
'With its sordid power struggles, violence and brutality, its cast
of magnificent monsters, tragic victims and grotesque 'holy men',
this is an extraordinary and gripping tale . . . By turns horrific,
hilarious and moving, but ultimately tragic, this is essential
reading for anyone interested in Russia'
*THE SPECTATOR*
'Wonderfully compelling and insightful . . . Sebag Montefiore
provides fabulously revealing pen-portraits of the 20 Romanov
tsars, as well as their spouses, mistresses and senior advisers . .
. The author has already written excellent books on Catherine the
Great and Stalin. This one is even better, combining as it does his
expert knowledge of Russian history with the narrative wizardry
displayed in his previous bestseller, Jerusalem. The Romanovs is
the gripping and scarcely credible tale of the most successful
royal dynasty since the Caesars, and Sebag Montefiore tells it
brilliantly'
*EVENING STANDARD*
'An impressive book that combines rigorous research with exquisite
prose'
*THE TIMES*
'Montefiore's journey through 300 years of the Romanov dynasty is a
study of brutality, sex and power . . . riveting . . . the research
is meticulous and the style captivating'
*THE OBSERVER*
'This magnificent and magisterial history . . . is a wonderfully
ambitious account of 300 years of Russian history . . . an
authoritative and gripping account of the Romanovs. This is a
superb book and it will surely become the definitive work'
*THE OLDIE*
'This splendidly colourful and energetic book . . . is structured
simply, as a helter-skelter chronological narrative of 300 years.
Sebag Montefiore expertly selects the best (most shocking, bizarre,
sensationally theatrical) bits from that long history . . . Sebag
Montefiore rises to the gaudy, gruesome subject matter, pulling all
the stops out . . . Sebag Montefiore is alive to the way his story
resonates across time, from Genghis Khan to Gorbachev, but he
doesn't allow his erudition to hold up the narrative's gallop . . .
with great gifts for encapsulating a character and storytelling con
brio'
*NEW STATESMAN*
'A new book from Simon Sebag Montefiore is something of a literary
event these days . . . His latest project is in some ways his most
ambitious yet . . . However it's one that [he] pulls off with
aplomb. As much a riveting read as a prodigious work of scholarship
. . . he could not have picked a better time to publish this epic
and enthralling history of a dynasty that rose up drenched in blood
and died out in exactly the same manner'
*DAILY EXPRESS*
'The entire Romanov dynasty is a marvellously rich bag of
deshabille, despotism and occasional diplomacy, as Simon Sebag
Montefiore's feisty history brilliantly displays . . . Countless
illuminating details, gleaned through arduous dedication to
scarcely used archives, stud the pages of The Romanovs . . .
immensely enjoyable . . . full-blooded and totally enthralling'
*THE AUSTRALIAN*
'An obvious work of great scholarship and research'
*HERALD SUN (Australia)*
'A comprehensive overview of the Romanov dynasty . . . which
skilfully interweaves the personal with the political . . .
Montefiore is the perfect author for a book of the ambition and
scope of The Romanovs . . . The Romanovs is old-fashioned narrative
history at its colourful and unpretentious best. Montefiore is a
wonderful guide . . . the writing sparkles . . . The Romanovs
deserves the best praise any book can get: it never bores . . .
Montefiore has much to say about political machinations as he does
about personal friendships and love which lifts his work far above
drily academic history'
*SYDNEY MORNING HERALD*
'Simon Sebag Montefiore has written a magisterial account of
unlimited power and sexual decadence based on a remarkable
correspondence'
*THE MAIL ON SUNDAY*
'From dramatic rise to revolutionary fall, 20 autocratic Romanov
tsars and tsarinas ruled over three centuries of blood-soaked war
and brutal peace, breathtaking riches and absolute power,
passionate love and ruthless ambition, madness and decadence. With
ease and expertise, Simon Sebag Montefiore brazenly presents the
Romanov royal history as a mesmerising family saga, always
spectacular and finally in 1918, tragic'
*SAGA magazine*
'It's like reading 20 riveting, plot-thickening novels in the space
of one volume. And the packaging looks equally scintillating'
*THE BOOKSELLER*
'As Simon Sebag Montefiore demonstrates in this magnificent,
sweeping history, the Russian royal family was a remarkable
dynasty, turning a vast but backward country into a mighty empire
capable of defeating Napoleon at the zenith of its power. Despite
the extraordinary depth and range of his research, the author
avoids the dryness of more academic volumes. Instead he embarks on
a rollicking, racy narrative across more than three centuries of
Romanov rule, weaving a tale that is packed with salacious gossip
and gruesome details'
*S MAGAZINE, SUNDAY EXPRESS*
'As Simon Sebag Montefiore shows in this superlative account of the
last royal dynasty that attempted the task, Russia is not an easy
place to rule . . . In part, the book is a vivid family chronicle
of court life full of extraordinary stories . . . a sparkling
narrative of 300 years of glittering opulence and majesty, as well
as thoughtless waste and frivolity . . . He is a shrewd analyst of
high politics - and the low cunning needed by successful leaders .
. . I read much of this book grateful that the dynasty was about to
fall - until I remembered the worse horrors that followed after the
Revolution'
*MAIL ON SUNDAY*
'Panoramic . . . Montefiore tells it compellingly'
*DAILY MAIL*
'In a brilliant introductory essay, Sebag Montefiore discusses the
principle of tsarist autocracy, the limits of imperial power, the
challenges of succession and the operation of government . . .
Sebag Montefiore's book is an immensely entertaining read . . . it
features some of the most outrageous characters you are likely to
find in a history book . . . The story of the last Romanovs has
been told a thousand times, yet it is a tribute to Sebag
Montefiore's skill as a narrator that you turn the pages with
horrified fascination'
*SUNDAY TIMES*
'A glorious history of the Romanov dynasty bursting with blood, sex
and tears'
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
'Simon Sebag Montefiore's blockbuster history of the Romanov
dynasty arrives with exquisite timing . . . The historian's account
of the last months, days and hours of the Romanovs will not
disappoint ... [and] show Sebag Montefiore's narrative bravado at
its scintillating best. There is unlikely to have been a racier
account of how the last Romanovs met their end . . . Masterly'
*THE INDEPENDENT*
'A very lively story. This retelling could hardly be more timely .
. . To make the most of the dramatic nature of his story, Simon
Sebag Montefiore has hit upon the ingenious idea of dividing the
history of the Romanovs into three acts, with numerous scenes in
each - more like a play than a 700-word series of biographies . . .
Dr Sebag Montefiore has proved himself a chronicler worthy of their
achievements and, for his readers, revealed a fascinating, if
doomed, imperial cavalcade'
*COUNTRY LIFE*
'This history of Russia's famous (and infamous) dynasty is
compelling, accessible stuff, covering its huge timespan and vast
cast of characters in typically vibrant fashion. It's insightful
about the continuing legacy of the Romanovs in Russia today,
too'
*HISTORYEXTRA.COM*
'In another great work of history, Simon Sebag Montefiore, author
of Jerusalem, tells the bloody and decadent stories of the 20 tsars
and tsarinas of Russia's last imperial dynasty. The Romanovs is
like 20 gripping novels in one'
*SUNDAY EXPRESS*
'Hugely entertaining history that takes savage delight in its tales
of human pleasure and suffering'
*THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Must Reads'*
'Power, sex and death - you certainly can't say that the Romanovs,
who ruled Russia for over three centuries, led quiet lives . . .
Drawing on new evidence it paints a vivid portrait of a remarkable,
and ultimately doomed, dynasty'
*HISTORY REVEALED*
'Russian history is as colourful and dramatic as any novel and
anyone who has enjoyed the excellent recent TV adaptation of War
and Peace should be directed towards Simon Sebag Montefiore's
lively The Romanovs which details the madness, cruelty, excess and
deceit that would prove the undoing of the dynasty that ruled
Russia for more than 300 years'
*CHOICE magazine*
'Anecdotal, gossipy, irreverent . . . this sumptuous, old-fashioned
narrative history is wonderful entertainment. From its earliest
days in the seventeenth century to its brutal downfall during the
First World War, Simon Sebag Montefiore is an observant, fluent and
knowledgeable guide to the Romanov dynasty'
*THE TABLET*
'Dazzlingly definitive'
*AUSTRALIAN WOMEN'S WEEKLY*
'Simon Sebag Montefiore's 700-plus page account of the gory,
greedy, gut-wrenching and occasionally glorious antics of the
Romanov tsars uses previously untapped archives to make Game of
Thrones seem like Milly-Molly-Mandy'
*THE TIMES*
'Historian Simon Sebag Montefiore dives enticingly into the world
of the Russian Romanov family, the most successful dynasty of
modern times, who once ruled a sixth of the world's surface. This
richly multi-layered and gripping family chronicle covers the lives
of 20 tsars and tsarinas, revealing a secret world of unlimited
power and ruthless ambition'
*FAMILY TREE MAGAZINE*
'[Montefiore] reveals in marvellous detail and meticulous
documentation the 300 years of Romanov dynastic survival . . . he
writes so well, sometimes with a thrilling impulsion'
*IRISH EXAMINER*
'A sparkling narrative full of tantrums, tsars and tiaras'
*TATLER*
'This enthralling and gruesome book mixes sexual exploits, torture,
war, betrayal and diplomacy. It partly describes how Russia morphed
from miserable weakling into mighty empire. But it is mainly the
story of the personalities: the cruelty of Ivan the Terrible, the
unstoppable willpower of Peter the Great, and then Catherine,
perhaps more deservedly "the Great" for her brains, charm, vision
and sex drive. Sebag Montefiore's thesis, broadly, is that Russia's
vastness leads to outsize politics: autocracy tempered by
strangulation" as Madame de Stael puts it'
*1843 (The Economist)*
'It takes true historical daring to tackle such an immense subject
. . . Montefiore's novelistic gift of drawing vivid characters with
a few choice words never fails him . . . The main portraits are
invariably memorable . . . spellbinding . . . This monumental work
is an essential addition to the library of anyone interested in
Russian history and the doomed dynasty of Romanovs'
*NEW YORK TIMES (USA)*
'Sebag Montefiore paints an unforgettable portrait of characters
fascinating and charismatic, odd and odious. Magnificent palaces,
elaborate balls, and a culture that produced Pushkin, Tchaikovsky
and Tolstoy existed alongside pogroms, torture and murder . . .
Erudite and entertaining'
*THE WASHINGTON POST (USA)*
'Wonderfully written and fascinating down to the last footnote . .
. [Montefiore's] style is polished, lively, informed . . .
Montefiore is an accomplished storyteller, and what might have been
a plodding succession of reigns reads instead like a novel -
specifically, in its interplay of themes and motifs, and especially
its pairing of opposites, like Gabriel García Márquez's One Hundred
Years of Solitude . . . Like a novel, too, this is a hard book to
put down. As historical reconstruction and as storytelling, The
Romanovs is an achievement of the first rank'
*THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS (USA)*
'A fascinating psychological study of this succession of
megalomaniacs, madmen and mediocrities . . . He writes with
knowledge and gusto'
*CATHOLIC HERALD*
'A rollicking look at one of the most successful - and violent -
regimes in history'
*THE SUNDAY TIMES 'Summer Books'*
'The ill-starred Romanovs are revealed in their full pomp and
perversity'
*THE TIMES 'Summer Books'*
'[A] joyful romp through 300 years of the dynasty's epic
follies'
*DAILY TELEGRAPH*
'A superlative history of the last royal dynasty to govern Russia,
brimming with extraordinary stories of murder and torture, sex and
excess, featuring madmen, monsters megalomaniacs and fanatics. This
is an epic story of 300 years of high politics and low cunning -
War and Peace meets Game of Thrones'
*MAIL ON SUNDAY - Summer Reads*
'This was a world of sibling rivalry, ruthless ambition, lurid
excess and sadistic depravity; a world of impostors, false
prophets, giants, freaks, wizards and nymphomaniacs. More than just
a story about a dysfunctional royal family, this book is an
examination of the Russian addiction to autocracy. Historians,
embarrassed by Romanov excesses, often censor the truth. Not
Montefiore'
*THE TIMES Books of the Year 2016*
'Simon Sebag Montefiore's superb The Romanovs covers the whole
extraordinary three-century saga of those often ruthless libidinous
and expansionist tsars in gruesome, eye-popping detail'
*EVENING STANDARD Books of the Year 2016*
[Montefiore's] vivid descriptions of the savage ways of old Russia
belie an immense scholarship
*DAILY TELEGRAPH History Books of the Year 2016*
An absorbing history of the dynasty that ruled Russia for 300
years. Along the way we meet the great, the good, the not so good
and the downright appalling, who took a vast wilderness, far beyond
the horizon, and turned it into a world power, until the world
turned on them. Unputdownable.
*THE MAIL ON SUNDAY*
A cruel history of hereditary power, by a master storyteller who
lifts this unfamiliar narrative with vivid, amusing and surprising
details
*THE ECONOMIST Books of the Year 2016*
This meticulously researched account of Russian history from the
17th to the 20th century makes
Game Of Thrones seem staid by comparison. Beneath the astonishing
wealth of historical detail
runs the constant theme of the impossible challenge, even for a
dynasty of autocrats, of ruling the
'ever-expanding, multi-faith, multi-ethnic empire' that was
Russia
*DAILY MAIL*
A bravura history of the Russian imperial dynasty that does not
blanch at the tales of excess that surround this often savage
imperial household
*THE SUNDAY TIMES - Summer Reading 2017*
It is very violent and gruesome. It made me realise that our world
is a much better place than I thought
*Kirstie Allsopp*
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