Nicholas and Alexandra

Robert K. Massie's 1967 biography follows the last Tsar of Russia, Nicholas II, and his wife, Alexandra, from their courtship to the fall of the Romanov dynasty. At its centre is the illness of their only son, the Tsarevich Alexei, who had hemophilia.

Massie shows how the family's private fear for him shaped their decisions and drew the empress toward the mystic Grigori Rasputin, whose influence at court undermined the monarchy. Told as a family story set against war and revolution, it is a long, readable account for anyone curious about how imperial Russia ended.