Real People/Real Stories explores the best in nonfiction history, biography, science, nature, and the arts.

This month's read: Rasputin: The Downfall of the Romanovs, by Antony Beevor

Beevor’s portrait of the enigmatic Grigori Rasputin traces how a Siberian peasant and holy man with no official position at court gained such a hold over the Russian tsar and his wife that he dragged them to their ruin. Previously unpublished reports and interviews reveal a history of opportunism, victimization of vulnerable women, and corruption that is “part political thriller, part gothic mystery.”

“A stunning achievement of psychological insight, deep research, and evocative prose that adds to Antony Beevor’s illustrious career as a chronicler of the twentieth century, Rasputin not only captures the mysterious Siberian holy man in all his bizarre complexity—the feverish religiosity, the preening ambition, the drunken lust as well as sincere concern for the peasantry and fear of war—but also paints a vivid portrait of tsarist Russia hurtling toward the abyss. A must-read for understanding the epic downfall of the Romanov dynasty.”—Douglas Smith, author of Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs

“An exceptionally well-sourced, morally serious and often darkly comic account of how a barely literate peasant from Siberia came to precipitate the collapse of one of the greatest autocracies in the world.”—Owen Matthews in The Spectator

“Totally fascinating, compelling, and beautifully written. In its deep political and psychological understanding of Rasputin, the Romanovs, and Russia itself, this book is intriguing and original. One of the great stories of history, told by one of our greatest historians.”—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of The World: A Family History of Humanity