Rasputin: The Untold Story

314 Pages·2012·27.01 MB·English

by  Joseph T. Fuhrmann

R
asputin

R
asputin
The Untold Story
Joseph T. Fuhrmann
John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Copyright © 2013 by Joe Fuhrmann. All rights reserved.
Cover image: © ITAR-TASS Photo Agency/Alamy
Cover design: Wendy Mount
Photo credits appear on page 271 and constitute an extension of the copyright page.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Fuhrmann, Joseph T., date.
Rasputin : the untold story / Joseph T. Fuhrmann.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-1-118-17276-6 (cloth : acid-free paper); ISBN 978-1-118-22693-3 (ebk);
ISBN 978-1-118-23985-8 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-26458-4 (ebk)
1. Rasputin, Grigori Efimovich, ca. 1870–1916. 2. Russia–Court and courtiers–
Biography. 3. Russia–History–Nicholas II, 1894–1917. 4. Rasputin, Grigori
Efimovich, ca. 1870–1916–Religion. 5. Mystics–Russia–Biography. 6. Healers–
Russia–Biography. 7. Russkaia pravoslavnaia tserkov?–Biography. I. Title.
DK254.R3F79 2012
947.08’3092—dc23
[B]
2012007301
Printed in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Mary
and our Scrabble games together
and for the love we share with
Natasha

Contents
Preface ix
Acknowledgments xv
Cast of Principal Characters, Places, and Terms xix
Prologue 1
1 The Outsider 3
2 Seeker and Teacher 15
3 Nicholas and Alexandra: Waiting for a Friend 31
4 The New Rasputin 39
5 The Church Strikes Back 49
6 The Romanovs’ Holy Fool 57
7 The Captain’s Mysterious Report 67
8 Black Boars Become Bishops 77
9 “You Are Our All” 87
10 “God Has Heard Your Prayers!” 97
11 Spiritual Crisis 107
12 The Woman with the Missing Nose 117
13 Disaster Lurks in Moscow 131
14 The Tsar Takes Charge and Loses Control 143
15 Rasputin Conquers the Russian State 155
16 The Church at the Feet of a “Low Hound” 167
17 “Our Friend’s Ideas about Men Are Sometimes Queer” 177
vii
viii CONTeNTS
18 Shadows Come at Twilight 185
19 The Assassin 197
20 Murder at the Palace 207
21 The Aftermath 215
22 Who Really Killed Rasputin? 225
epilogue 233
Notes 241
Bibliography 263
Photo Credits 271
Index 273