The Empire Must Die: Russia's Revolutionary Collapse, 1900–1917

During its centennial year, the world-changing 1917 Russian Revolution has occasioned much reexamination. Journalist Zygar (All the Kremlin's Men) has written a riveting account of the end of the tsarist regime and the uprising in which military, religious, and artistic realms intersect. People involved in the slow crumbling of the empire are evoked in sharply phrased and critical characterizations. Although Nicholas and Alexandra had an epic love, they were deeply flawed. Unable to adjust to the idea that he was not preordained by God to rule and isolated from their peers and their subjects, Nicholas and Alexandra made many mistakes that worsened the political situation. A vivid sense of real-time chaos, confusion, and the multitude of ideas for bringing Russia into the 20th century is well documented in a readable journalistic manner in comparison to a historical perspective found in Richard Pipes's Concise History of the Russian Revolution. Brief footnotes add pertinent parallels to current events in Russia.