Although this book is a little long and has some redundancies, American history buffs will enjoy it. Sheds a lot of light not only on the elusive relationship between Jefferson and the most famous Hemings, Sally, but also delves into the history of this interesting family.

A classic by Robert K Massie. One of the first books on the subject. Although some new facts have surfaced since this book was published, it does not take away from it. Massie also wrote a follow up to this one, called "The Romanovs: the Final Chapter" (see my review).

In history, much like in anything else, there are at least two sides to the "story". In this book we see an entirely different side of the familiar account - the one we have come to accept as fact - of the well known tale of the last days of the Russian empire just before the revolution broke out. This book is not an easy read by any means. It took me a couple of months to finish because I felt like I needed to really concentrate on the facts presented, without the usual distractions, in order to fully understand and appreciate them. And there is certainly a LOT of new information to digest, a lot of new primary sources that have never been presented before, some very startling. This is a very different look at the last Russian Emperor Nicholas II, specifically during the twilight of his rule. But this book is not just about Rasputin and his murder, it is a comprehensive study from completely different angle, of the familiar events we have come to accept as historical truths. It can also be viewed as a form of "rehabilitation" of the last Tsar's reputation, based on thorough examination of definitive primary sources that have never been considered before. It has been very easy for us to condemn Nicholas II in historical hindsight 20/20, and dismiss him as an ineffective ruler, but stepping back in history and into "his shoes", seeing the events as they were happening from the perspective of perhaps a contemporary close to these events, explains and even justifies a lot of the Tsar's decisions and actions which have always seemed inexplicable or foolish to us. The author clearly did a lot of very thorough research, going directly to primary sources in Russian archives - the way history should be studied. From scratch. For some unexplained reason, I have always intuitively felt a level of sympathy for Rasputin, no matter how reviled he had been in popular history, and sensed that painting him as "evil", and consequently the imperial couple as "clueless", was too simplistic of a view of very complicated persons and a very complicated situation. This book presents us with a much more realistic picture of what actually went on during that time period in Russian history, hence helping us balance the view of history as we knew it - until now. One thing I would like to suggest, that perhaps for the next printing, an index should be added, in order to make it easier to find specific information.

This book was the first one I read which was solely about Marie Therese and not about her more famous parents. I thought it gave a pretty good overview of her life. I especially found it useful for learning the history of post-Marie Antoinette/Louis XVI executions French royalty, which I wasn't completely on the ball about... I particularly liked the few bits about the identity conspiracy, does every royal who went through some sort of a turmoil have to be attached to those types of conspiracies?

A good book if you are looking for a fast read with factual information about the Laci Peterson case.

I recently re-read this book, which I originally read about 6 or 7 years ago. Having behind me several articles on the subject, as well as having worked in the Russian archives, I can now fully understand and appreciate the painful process described in this book. I feel the frustration and pain the key players experienced during this investigation,which should have been fairly straight forward. From the extremely dysfunctionally bureaucratic Russian system to the foolish rivalries among Russian and western scientists alike, with various other peripheral characters thrown in, this book described the entire mess of identifying and validating the last Russian imperial remains very well... And, the fact of having communicated with some of the key participants - as well as the author himself - while researching the articles, made the read even more fascinating for me this time around!

A nice biography of the much maligned Queen Caroline, the consort of George IV... A sympathetic account of her as a human being, which presents her as a sensitive woman and a far cry from the parody she tended to be often presented as.

I originally read this book as a teenager and reread it later as adult. I know that I probably am not supposed to like books like these, but I liked it! And I even liked the sequels, although not as much as the original.

Okay... I am going to be in the minority here, but I didn't really like this book... And I didn't dislike it either. I am sort of neutral about it. Granted, I gave up about 3/4 way through it, and most likely the only reason I kept going this far was because I kept expecting it to get better... but it just didn't. It is well written, but I just couldn't get into the author's writing style - I found it too tedious and long winded. It took too long to get to the real story, and then it just dragged on and on. I didn't really care about any of the characters (in fact, I found them all sort of annoying), and I didn't really care to find out what happened to the victim. With 95 titles on my "to-read" list, I just couldn't afford to keep going with this one. I can sort of understand why others would like this book, but it just wasn't my cup of tea. I am giving it 3 stars because it is well written and the story line is not completely un-original, but that's it. Maybe I will like the movie better. If I ever see it.

I am very picky about "memoir" type books, but I really enjoyed this one. Easy to read and absorbing, and you will learn a thing or two as well (I did) about a topic I knew next to nothing about!

I have read a couple of other Lenin biographies in the past, none of which went into too much detail about his exile years. I learned a good amount from this well-researched book, including the fact that exile for him was not unpleasant at all, but seemed more of an extended vacation abroad and/or in the Russian countryside. I liked some small personal anecdotes included in the book (like the one where a librarian from one of the libraries Lenin used to frequent abroad asked "whatever happened to that nice fellow Ulianov?" - this was after Lenin was already in power). Based on this book I also began to appreciate the fact that Lenin was not necessarily an unlikable person.

Collins books are my guilty pleasure. This one is a bit predictable but still fun as usual. Part murder mystery, part trashy romance, Collins never disappoints...

A fairly good overview of the French Revolution and all the characters involved, even if a little bit dry.

A pretty powerful book where the author makes analogies between the biblical Moses and America's greatest leaders.

Evan Hunter (aka Ed McBain), the late great mystery writer. As Evan Hunter, his novels are a lot darker and more sinister than McBain's. In Candyland, Hunter and McBain "collaborate", with the former writing the first part of the book and the latter the second. This is one of both authors' (which of course is just one author writing in different styles) darkest novels which deals with the worst aspects of human nature in a very realistic way. A great read, albeit somewhat depressing...

This biography is just a tad dry, but provides all the essential info in a short enough format.

A fairly good, albeit not very comprehensive, biography of the great artist (and then-some). A bit distracting because it goes back and forth in time, but a pretty good first introduction.

No matter how many books on holocaust I read, it just never ceases to shock me - the level of cruelty humans are capable of - not just inflicting on other humans - but also of allowing it to happen and looking the other way... Sometimes I can almost understand holocaust deniers, I would also like to deny to myself that something like this can ever happen, and don't want to believe that it's possible, especially within the life time of people who are still alive today. While reading this book, t ...more No matter how many books on holocaust I read, it just never ceases to shock me - the level of cruelty humans are capable of - not just inflicting on other humans - but also of allowing it to happen and looking the other way... Sometimes I can almost understand holocaust deniers, I would also like to deny to myself that something like this can ever happen, and don't want to believe that it's possible, especially within the life time of people who are still alive today. While reading this book, there were instances when I wanted to just stop and put it away, and yet I had to continue reading. At times I also couldn't help but hope that some of these things are exaggerated, while at the same time instinctively knew that they are not.

A very strange novel about Hitler and his family... written from the point of view of a devil. Yes, a devil (not THE devil). The author takes us through Hitler's early life from his conception (an even prior to it) through his teen years and shows us how little Addy eventually became Adolf Hitler. Don't want to give away too much, but suffice to say that it turns out that Addy was apparently a product of multiple incestuous romps. Sounds really weird, but the book is actually pretty good and Mailer's writing style is excellent.

I am not a huge Patterson fan, but I am a fan of Egyptology, which is why I read this one. I have mixed feelings about it. On the one hand, it was entertaining and a nice light read. On the other hand, despite what the author claims, I am not so sure that he based it on real facts. Perhaps it doesn't really matter, and I am pretty sure a lot of people will like it.