" ... Pulitzer Prize-winning author Robert K. Massie sweeps readers back to the extraordinary world of Imperial Russia to tell the story of the Romanovs' lives: Nicholas's political naivete, Alexandra's obsession with the corrupt mystic Rasputin, and little Alexis's brave struggle with hemophilia. Against a lavish backdrop of luxury and intrigue, Massie unfolds a powerful drama of passion and history--the story of a doomed empire and the death-marked royals who watched it crumble."--Publisher's description.;Part one (1. Imperial Russia ; 2. The Tsarevitch Nicholas ; 3. Princess Alix ; 4. Marriage ; 5. The coronation ; 6. The new year ; 7. The revolutionaries ; 8. The Kaiser's advice ; 9. 1905) -- Part two (10. The Tsar's village ; "OTMA": and Alexis ; 12. A mother's agony ; 13. The royal progress ; 14. "The little one will not die" ; 15. Rasputin ; 16. The holy devil ; 17. "We want a great Russia" ; 18. The Romanov dynasty ; 19. The long summer of 1914) -- Part three (20. For the defence of holy Russia ; 21. Stavka ; 22. "Poor fellows, they are ready to give their lives for a smile" ; 23. The fateful deception ; 24. The government disintegrates ; 25. The prince and the peasant ; 26. Last winter at Tsarskoe Selo ; 27. Revolution: March 1917 ; 28. Abdication ; 29. The Empress alone) -- Part four (30. Citizen Romanov ; 31. "His Majesty's government does not insist" ; 32. Siberia ; 33. Good Russian men ; 34. Ekaterinburg).