Rasputin, one of the most fascinating and controversial figures of the twentieth century, has remained cloaked in the myth of his own devising since his extraordinary ascent to power in the court of Nicholas and Alexandra, the last tsar and tsarina of Russia. Until now. Edvard Radzinsky, the author of the international bestseller The Last Tsar , had long been frustrated by the meager explanations of the malign authority of Grigory Efimovich Rasputin, a Russian peasant, semiliterate monk, and mystic, in the last Romanov court. Then, in 1995, a file from the State Archives that had been missing for years came up for auction at Sotheby's, and was put in Radzinsky's hands. It contained the interrogations of Rasputin's inner circle of admirers and those who kept him under police surveillance--documents never seen by any other historian. With this file, Radzinsky is able to transform the biography of Rasputin from mysterious legend into fact. Using the depositions of Rasputin's friends, teachers, devotees, and fanatical female fans--the people who watched Rasputin nearly every day--Radzinsky presents a fascinating account of how Rasputin exercised and enlarged his power. Radzinsky reveals the full extent of Rasputin's charged relationship with the tsarina, and chronicles Rasputin's famous sexual odyssey through the demimonde of St. Petersburg, using the debauched women's own astonishingly frank testimony to uncover a trove of surprising secrets. Here is documented, for the first time, the way in which Rasputin actually gained access to the tsarist court, and the true identity of the man who shot and killed Rasputin in 1916. And finally, the author is able to provide the real reasons behind Rasputin's sway in virtually every imperial decision at the end of Russia's royal Romanov dynasty. Through his exclusive access to the Rasputin File, his own unrivaled research into other resources, and his proven talent for dramatic storytelling, Radzinsky is finally able to tell the complete, sensational story of Rasputin, fully documented and definitive. Edvard Radzinsky's fascination with Rasputin grew as he was writing The Last Tsar, but until he could penetrate the mystery he would not proceed. And then, miraculously, the documents long missing from the KGB files surfaced, finally enabling him to tell the story of the man who held such a hypnotic influence over the last Russian Tsar and Tsarina, and ultimately determined the fate of his country. Based on Radzinsky's persistent scholarship and enlivened by his superb flair for the dramatic, THE RASPUTIN FILE is a mesmerizing account of the man and brings a new understanding to the nature of Rasputin's power. --> The Provisional Government in Russia (1917) formed the Extraordinary Commission of Inquiry to investigate the excesses of the tsarist regime, including those of the "Mad Monk" Grigory Rasputin (1869-1916) and his influence on the imperial family. The commission's file on him soon vanished, finally reappearing a few years ago at auction, where it was bought for Radzinsky, author of The Last Tsar and Stalin. Based on this newfound evidence, supplemented by published memoirs and by the surveillance file the police kept on Rasputin during the last five years of his life, the author has reconstructed his daily visits and actions during the years 1903-16 in meticulous detail, including the events surrounding his death. He portrays Rasputin as part of a pre-Christian peasant tradition of mysticism and folk wisdom. Statements made to the commission substantiate many of the drunken excesses usually attributed to Rasputin but undermine other charges of sexual exploits. The level of detail in this work makes it appropriate for specialists in the period and for academic libraries.DMarcia L. Sprules, Council on Foreign Relations Lib., New York Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc. When a missing file from the inquiry into the murder of Rasputin turned up at auction at Sotheby's, the cellist Mstislav Rostropovich snatched it up and granted best-selling author and playwright Radzinsky exclusive rights to its contents. Radzinsky describes the file in scrupulous detail, and then gives us his take on the mysterious murder of Rasputin, the crazed monk who held a place of unprecedented importance in the court of the last czar and czarina of Russia, Nicholas II and Alexandra. He was eventually killed by relatives of the czar after the Bolshevik revolution, yet the assassination, like much of Rasputin's life, has been shrouded in mystery and rumor. Radzinsky offers a novelesque interpretation of the events as they unfolded, as reported in the secret file--and he clears up many of the mysteries surrounding the life and death of this influential "mad monk." A fascinating look at one of the most enigmatic figures in twentieth-century history. Michael Spinella Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Praise for Edvard Radzinsky's The Last Tsar : "A