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Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin—drinker, thief, womanizer—arrived in St. Petersburg in 1903 as if from the medieval past . . . tattered, black-clad, muttering. By the time of his sensational murder thirteen years later, the peasant was the ”beloved Friend” of Czar Nicholas and Empress Alexandra, with a seemingly supernatural power to stop the bleeding attacks of their hemophiliac son, Alexis. How could it have happened? As on society lady of the time asked, “How could so pitiful a wretch throw so vast a shadow?”Drawing on confidential police reports, cabinet meeting memos, and many documents only now available, Moynahan sheds new light on Rasputin's life and disputes some of the widely held details of his death. The Washington Post Book World called the book “balanced and well-researched” hailed its “shrewd analysis of the ways in which Rasputin's manipulative abilities meshed with the emotional needs of isolated, superstitious members of czarist aristocracy. It is an unforgettable portrait of an age as well as of a man.
432 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1997
About the author
Brian Moynahan
44 books19 followersBrian Moynahan was an English journalist, historian and biographer.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews
May 23, 2017
Like most of the world, I have always been fascinated by the murky half-myth, half reality in which lurks the dark figure supposedly at the heart of the Romanov dynasty’s downfall. Moynahan brings clarity, forthright details, and a fair-handed approach that ultimately casts the largest share of blame on Empress Alexandra’s wrongheadedness.
Shelved as 'nevermind'
November 6, 2015I think it's time to face up to the fact that I'm never going to finish it. Or if I do, it will take years. I keep finding other things to do than read it.
It's not like this isn't good. It started out really, really interesting. And now it's kind of boring and I'm having trouble keeping track of who the author is referring to when he uses general pronouns. And when he uses actual names, I still don't know who he's talking about half the time.
I wanted to read this because for some reason I always thought Rasputin was scary. Like, nightmare scary. But it turns out he's just super outrageous and kind of gross. He had straight-up orgies in the woods in the name of everything holy. And he had sex with hot society women (also in the name of everything holy). I'm convinced he had more sex than Hugh Jackman. Except it was gross sex, because he turned all his behavior into something spiritual, and people bought his shit.
Well, that's one way to get super-religious ladies into bed, I suppose. And, oh yeah, it's sexist as fuck.
But the sex was also gross because Rasputin apparently never showered. Food and dirt would be in his beard, his nails would be dirty, and he would even leave tar marks on ladies' dresses as a sort of calling card.
Rasputin allegedly had magical healing powers. There's no doubt he was inexplicably charismatic, but among other so-called miracles, he supposedly healed the tsarevich's hemophilia on multiple occasions (could that kid ever NOT fall down and hurt himself? Couldn't his parents just wrap him in pillows? Jeez). It's still crazy to think that he drew so many people under his spell. Then again, they were rich. Rich people do dumb shit all the time and no one cares because they're rich.
I'm interested in reading the author's take on Rasputin's death, but I don't feel like wading that far into the book. I may skip ahead to that part, or else I'll just see what Wikipedia has to say.
But did he REALLY drown? DID HE? The world may never know...
It's not like this isn't good. It started out really, really interesting. And now it's kind of boring and I'm having trouble keeping track of who the author is referring to when he uses general pronouns. And when he uses actual names, I still don't know who he's talking about half the time.
I wanted to read this because for some reason I always thought Rasputin was scary. Like, nightmare scary. But it turns out he's just super outrageous and kind of gross. He had straight-up orgies in the woods in the name of everything holy. And he had sex with hot society women (also in the name of everything holy). I'm convinced he had more sex than Hugh Jackman. Except it was gross sex, because he turned all his behavior into something spiritual, and people bought his shit.
He'd sit there and give instructions to his female admirers. 'Do you think I degrade you? I don't degrade you. I purify you.' This was his basic idea. He also used the word grace , meaning that by sleeping with a man, a woman came into the grace of God.
Well, that's one way to get super-religious ladies into bed, I suppose. And, oh yeah, it's sexist as fuck.
But the sex was also gross because Rasputin apparently never showered. Food and dirt would be in his beard, his nails would be dirty, and he would even leave tar marks on ladies' dresses as a sort of calling card.
Rasputin allegedly had magical healing powers. There's no doubt he was inexplicably charismatic, but among other so-called miracles, he supposedly healed the tsarevich's hemophilia on multiple occasions (could that kid ever NOT fall down and hurt himself? Couldn't his parents just wrap him in pillows? Jeez). It's still crazy to think that he drew so many people under his spell. Then again, they were rich. Rich people do dumb shit all the time and no one cares because they're rich.
I'm interested in reading the author's take on Rasputin's death, but I don't feel like wading that far into the book. I may skip ahead to that part, or else I'll just see what Wikipedia has to say.
But did he REALLY drown? DID HE? The world may never know...
May 23, 2012
This was a well researched accounting of Rasputin, in the context of his times and with a careful consideration of the facts and all their contradictions. To know the character of Rasputin it is impossible to be ignorant of the revolution and the changes occurring in Russia at that time, and Moynahan gives a thorough bird's eye view of everything -- what a soldier at the front of WWI might be experiencing, to the citizens of Petrograd, to the nobility ruling them. This was an excellent book that humanized Rasputin rather than sensationalized/demonized him and if you've been exposed to a popular media image of Rasputin-as-villain, you'll come away with a more informed and accurate view point of who he was, what he did, and his significance.
July 29, 2008
I've read a slew of Rasputin bios and I enjoyed this one the most. The writing style is engrossing and I was finished with the book before I knew it.
A real pleasure to read from cover-to-cover.
Most of the others I've read are a bit too dry & scholarly. If you're interested in Rasputin - this is the book.
A real pleasure to read from cover-to-cover.
Most of the others I've read are a bit too dry & scholarly. If you're interested in Rasputin - this is the book.
May 20, 2015
This was a very valuable read about the run up to the Russian Revolution, in particular the roles of Nicholas and Alexandra. But, in the end, the timeline telling of his life was just hard to follow and not interesting.
November 10, 2024
This should have been fascinating but was lackluster and disappointing from the start. Moynahan is good at providing times, events, and quotes and he is certainly well-researched, but he has no ability to bring life to the people he is writing about. The best biographers are able to engage the reader and make it feel like a story is being told. What is presented here feels more like a textbook for school.
Moynahan also falls into the biographer's pitfall of taking his subject at face value. Rasputin was a con man and took advantage of people's insecurities to manipulate them, and yet the author takes Rasputin's quotes at face value as if he's an honest person. Rasputin was also a serial rapist and child molester, and yet to read this book you would come away thinking he was just engaging in a series of 'sometimes unwilling conquests.' Not recommended at all. Even if you're curious about Rasputin, find a different biography.
Moynahan also falls into the biographer's pitfall of taking his subject at face value. Rasputin was a con man and took advantage of people's insecurities to manipulate them, and yet the author takes Rasputin's quotes at face value as if he's an honest person. Rasputin was also a serial rapist and child molester, and yet to read this book you would come away thinking he was just engaging in a series of 'sometimes unwilling conquests.' Not recommended at all. Even if you're curious about Rasputin, find a different biography.
March 3, 2018
This was the second time through this book for me. My wife read it to me just after it came out and I've been thinking about Rasputin lately, so I indulged. Not quite just a biography—much of Grigory Rasputin's life is a mystery—this tome follows this Siberian peasant from his very humble beginnings as a disreputable youth through his assassination as a threat to Russia.
As a young man Rasputin was clearly very religious. He was also a prisoner to his lust. He spent time in a monastery but was never a monk. He was never ordained. He became a wandering holy man with a penchant for having sex as much as possible. His spirituality was genuine. He was kind to the poor and outsiders. He could also heal both animals and people. He came to the attention of high society. Very high society.
Some of the women infatuated with him introduced him to Alexandra Romanov, empress of Russia. Nicholas, the last Tsar, soon became convinced of his holiness and importance. They overlooked or dismissed stories of his many debauches. Rasputin loved to drink and womanize. He also liked to pray and contemplate what life was about. Tasting power, he became drunk on it.
As I point out on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) the political chaos that ensued was in part the result of an oppressive society. A peasant who was given a chance to dine with an empress, bishops, and the aristocracy, Rasputin let it go to his head. He was personally responsible for the appointment of government ministers under the Romanovs, including the ministers of war, the interior, and even the prime minister. It's no wonder the aristocracy murdered him.
A bit over-long, this book also traces the fate of pre-Revolution Russia at some length. Rasputin falls out of focus now and again. Nevertheless, this is a fair-handed treatment of a most fascinating individual whose influence changed world history.
As a young man Rasputin was clearly very religious. He was also a prisoner to his lust. He spent time in a monastery but was never a monk. He was never ordained. He became a wandering holy man with a penchant for having sex as much as possible. His spirituality was genuine. He was kind to the poor and outsiders. He could also heal both animals and people. He came to the attention of high society. Very high society.
Some of the women infatuated with him introduced him to Alexandra Romanov, empress of Russia. Nicholas, the last Tsar, soon became convinced of his holiness and importance. They overlooked or dismissed stories of his many debauches. Rasputin loved to drink and womanize. He also liked to pray and contemplate what life was about. Tasting power, he became drunk on it.
As I point out on my blog (Sects and Violence in the Ancient World) the political chaos that ensued was in part the result of an oppressive society. A peasant who was given a chance to dine with an empress, bishops, and the aristocracy, Rasputin let it go to his head. He was personally responsible for the appointment of government ministers under the Romanovs, including the ministers of war, the interior, and even the prime minister. It's no wonder the aristocracy murdered him.
A bit over-long, this book also traces the fate of pre-Revolution Russia at some length. Rasputin falls out of focus now and again. Nevertheless, this is a fair-handed treatment of a most fascinating individual whose influence changed world history.
November 9, 2007
I'm jealous of all of the ladies and drinks this guy had. He was tough as nails and his death is something everyone should read about.
Read
April 28, 2017another read for my history class!
April 21, 2024
sensationalized fiction and scandalous rumor trying to mask as a 'biography'
May 3, 2020
In Rasputin: The Saint Who Sinned one finds a book of busy detail, yet still somehow lacking. Its author, Brian Moynahan, has woven this vulgar, salacious chronicle into a dense meta-narrative of decadence in Imperial Russia. To do so he exchanges the wider world of Siberia's itinerant faith healer for a more delimited vista based on impressions of questionable veracity by variously interested observers.
The book is largely effective in pulling together the many tales and reports about Rasputin. Yet the writer compresses too much into sentences, often leaving words with unclear antecedents. Many oddly chosen words distract, too, sounding as if the author originally wrote in some other tongue.
The text neglects two glaring facts that jump out in every discussion of Rasputin: the steep social stratification of the tsarist empire and the incredible corruption attending it. Its hands-off approach to sources lets disparate accounts speak for themselves. Moynahan does little, for instance, to reconcile the clashing versions of Rasputin's murder.
The writer saves his own verdict for the end, in a discussion of whether Rasputin can be considered evil. But anyone using his approach could conclude almost anything about the mystic healer. Without situating Rasputin's life in a wider framework than random reports, judgments about the enigmatic and charismatic cult leader tell us little.
That's not to say the author doesn't try to guide readers. He does. "Homosexuals" and their "catamites" put a racy spin on Rasputin's deeds. Vague hints abound that parliamentary democracy would have saved Russia, that the Revolution was a worse solution than any existing crisis. But beyond such shading the writer attempts no political or social analysis of any kind. He thus gives a misleading characterization of the circumstances in which his subject lived and acted.
What's left is a story propelled along by the sheer facts of the bizarre career of a mysterious, seductive holy man. But without much more to go on than personal accounts and innuendo, this lazy concatenation counts more as tabloid entertainment than a serious biography.
The book is largely effective in pulling together the many tales and reports about Rasputin. Yet the writer compresses too much into sentences, often leaving words with unclear antecedents. Many oddly chosen words distract, too, sounding as if the author originally wrote in some other tongue.
The text neglects two glaring facts that jump out in every discussion of Rasputin: the steep social stratification of the tsarist empire and the incredible corruption attending it. Its hands-off approach to sources lets disparate accounts speak for themselves. Moynahan does little, for instance, to reconcile the clashing versions of Rasputin's murder.
The writer saves his own verdict for the end, in a discussion of whether Rasputin can be considered evil. But anyone using his approach could conclude almost anything about the mystic healer. Without situating Rasputin's life in a wider framework than random reports, judgments about the enigmatic and charismatic cult leader tell us little.
That's not to say the author doesn't try to guide readers. He does. "Homosexuals" and their "catamites" put a racy spin on Rasputin's deeds. Vague hints abound that parliamentary democracy would have saved Russia, that the Revolution was a worse solution than any existing crisis. But beyond such shading the writer attempts no political or social analysis of any kind. He thus gives a misleading characterization of the circumstances in which his subject lived and acted.
What's left is a story propelled along by the sheer facts of the bizarre career of a mysterious, seductive holy man. But without much more to go on than personal accounts and innuendo, this lazy concatenation counts more as tabloid entertainment than a serious biography.
May 11, 2012
In this biography, Moynahan brought to life not only Rasputin, but 20th century Russia, the royal family, the culture and politics of the time... The world Rasputin lived in was made clear to us, and it helped us to understand his character and the way the world viewed him. Using varied sources made the biography well-rounded. Moynahan ensured that his subject was neither vilified nor sanctified. He was intriguing and powerful and often quite creepy, but he was just a man. This doesn't make the book less interesting; in fact, it made me keep reading through to the end.
November 1, 2009
Good book...very detailed about Rasputin's life. Used a little off-color language which surprised me, but as the subject was a fairly crude person, perhaps the author was trying to get that point across with the use of the language. Personally found the book a bit depressing...you know what happens in the end to him and the people he was most closely associated with...and no matter how you hoped for a better ending, it just did not happen!
November 4, 2015
A great read. I remembered Rasputin from the Boney M song and having heard it way back when.
I came across this book in a friends library and began reading and could not put it down. It was fascinating and sad at the same time. I am amazed at the power and charisma of this man on the royal family which blinded them to factual reports about his misdemeanors.
I came across this book in a friends library and began reading and could not put it down. It was fascinating and sad at the same time. I am amazed at the power and charisma of this man on the royal family which blinded them to factual reports about his misdemeanors.
December 31, 2020
In a sense this is really two books merged into one.
The first is a description of life in the last decades of the Russian Romanov empire. This book benefits from Moynahan’s fluid writing and deep research. Well researched and interesting, it is particularly dominant in the beginning of this combined work.
The second book is a detailed tracking of Rasputin’s life and activities up until his death. Much of this is taken from police and secrete service reports that have been published at various times with questionable accuracy. These are supplemented by extensive first person accounts from individuals who ended up far from Bolshevik censors. This book is fascinating but over long and very dry.
I would have enjoyed two additional areas. First, as others have suggested, a better sense of the dichotomy between the daily life of the Russian noble and the peasant would have been useful. Second, I was left without a real sense of why and how Rasputin was so charismatic. Admittedly conjecture, but I would have benefited from Moynahan’s perspective.
The first is a description of life in the last decades of the Russian Romanov empire. This book benefits from Moynahan’s fluid writing and deep research. Well researched and interesting, it is particularly dominant in the beginning of this combined work.
The second book is a detailed tracking of Rasputin’s life and activities up until his death. Much of this is taken from police and secrete service reports that have been published at various times with questionable accuracy. These are supplemented by extensive first person accounts from individuals who ended up far from Bolshevik censors. This book is fascinating but over long and very dry.
I would have enjoyed two additional areas. First, as others have suggested, a better sense of the dichotomy between the daily life of the Russian noble and the peasant would have been useful. Second, I was left without a real sense of why and how Rasputin was so charismatic. Admittedly conjecture, but I would have benefited from Moynahan’s perspective.
December 2, 2018
Moynahan traces Rasputin's unlikely path from small-town priest to Svengali over the Tsar and Empress, and inevitable violent decline. This book made me grateful for America's Constitution and wisdom of the Founding Fathers, to structure a system with protections against the autocracy and lack of accountability to the Body Politic that existed in Russia in the waning years of the Tsar's reign.
Though the revolution didn't follow his murder immediately, it flowed swiftly within a few months, emphasizing the hollow corruption and the fragility of the monarchy, and its lack of touch with the real world in which its subjects lived and suffered.
Sometimes the author's accounting of specific actions and conversations are amazing, so he must have painstakingly integrated many sources to recreate them. On the other hand, I found the last third or so of the book to be too detailed, as the last several chapters feel like they slow down to recount virtually every day and week.
Though the revolution didn't follow his murder immediately, it flowed swiftly within a few months, emphasizing the hollow corruption and the fragility of the monarchy, and its lack of touch with the real world in which its subjects lived and suffered.
Sometimes the author's accounting of specific actions and conversations are amazing, so he must have painstakingly integrated many sources to recreate them. On the other hand, I found the last third or so of the book to be too detailed, as the last several chapters feel like they slow down to recount virtually every day and week.
June 14, 2022
This book, through no fault of its author, I'm guessing, is highly repetitive. Rasputin was kind of boring... if you hear about what he did at a high level plus a FEW of his exploits, I'd argue that you've heard enough. But the chronicling of woman after woman after woman... it's actually tiresome.
I actually do think he had healing powers, even if they were triggered by hypnotic belief/placebo effect from others convinced by his sheer confidence. I also think he acted like an animal (quite literally), and he also really reminded me of Harvey Weinstein and people who become so powerful that they seek more and more transgression for thrills, and that state gets harder to achieve as people show less and less resistance to you.
I actually do think he had healing powers, even if they were triggered by hypnotic belief/placebo effect from others convinced by his sheer confidence. I also think he acted like an animal (quite literally), and he also really reminded me of Harvey Weinstein and people who become so powerful that they seek more and more transgression for thrills, and that state gets harder to achieve as people show less and less resistance to you.
February 1, 2018
The author's not a professional historian nor biographer, and it shows, over the course of the narrative. His background as journalist does not translate into being a gifted writer. The story is intriguing, though, and he's not a terrible writer, but does indulge in some gutter reporting from time to time that feels out of place. However, if you want a baseline knowledge of Rasputin and how he fits into the history of the time, I think it suffices. There are some slow passages, and I did find myself deluged by the number of personages that hovered about Rasputin. As a window into the last days of the Romanovs and the insanity of the St. Petersburg urban milieu, it's a nice companion to Crime and Punishment.
February 5, 2020
This is a fascinating story of Rasputin, who as the confidant of the Czar and Empress of Russia just before the revolution, was instrumental in its downfall. Moynihan does a good job of being clear about the reliable of his data, yet at the same time painting a rich picture of his life. While explicitly stating that he doesn't see him as all bad, the picture I formed was of someone so self-absorbed, with so much power, that he ended up being the direct cause of much destruction suffering and death. the author's sympathy for his subject didn't come through in the picture I got.
July 17, 2024
Vertingas istorinis romanas. Autorius įdėmiai (remdamasis autentiška istorine medžiaga!) narsto XX a. pradžios Rusijos Imperijos visuomenės ir politikos užkulisius, tuo pat metu vaizdžiai ir be skrupulų lipdydamas įspūdingą Rasputino paveikslą. Šią žavingu stiliumi parašytą knygą skaičiau bene TRIS KARTUS. Ir kiekvieną sykį atrasdavau vis naujų, kitais atspalviais spindinčių "perliukų". Šiandien manau, kad aprašytoji epocha ir ten vaizduojamas visuotinis supuvimas labai panašus į nūdienos laikmetį. Ypač jeigu kalbėsim apie neįgalų politinį elitą ir oportunistų triumfą, kuris galop nuveda (nuves?) į prapultį...
P.S. Beje, pamiršau pagirti PUIKŲ vertimą į lietuvių kalbą. Jau vien žodis "senuolis" vertas didžiausių aplodismentų – jis lipte limpa prie Rasputino personos :)
P.S. Beje, pamiršau pagirti PUIKŲ vertimą į lietuvių kalbą. Jau vien žodis "senuolis" vertas didžiausių aplodismentų – jis lipte limpa prie Rasputino personos :)
October 20, 2019
I have had a fascination with Russian history ever since I took an undergraduate class of this country. I have often wondered how Rasputin became so influential to the Tsar and Empress. I learned alot about Rasputin's life and how he lived life causing me to understand how deplorable he used people for his interests. I wish that the book was more about Rasputin instead of the royal family, and that is the main reason why I am disappointed in this book.
May 25, 2019
I have been fascinated by this mysterious saint and wanted to know more about the power he had over the Tsar (and Tsarina). In my opinion, Brian Moynahan did a splendid job in detailing this man's life, his relationships, his influence, and his death. Even after his death after more than a century, this man stays a mystery.
May 8, 2022
This book falls back on some of the propaganda and legend that grew up about Rasputin in the days after his murder. Slightly more sensational it does have some interesting information that seems to fantastic to be true but after being compared to other historians seems to hold up. It is a good book to read but there are others that are better than this one especially the one by Douglas Smith.
August 11, 2018
Terrible, didn't finish, didn't like at all. Won't read more by this author.
January 23, 2023
Rasputin’s shadow spreads over Russia’s Wagner group -FT 21 Jan 2023
https://www.ft.com/content/1c670be7-2...
https://www.ft.com/content/1c670be7-2...
February 22, 2018
A very readable biography.
March 17, 2017
What a fascinating person. I found this completely absorbing. Moynahan makes it very clear that Rasputin isn't easily categorized as a con man or a healer or a hypnotist, but some combination of both, plus more. Combine him with Nicholas and Alexandra who probably never should have been allowed to lead their country, and you get a royal hot mess. What an excellent job Moynahan did, revealing the entanglements between them, and showing how this messed up entanglement created so much of the country's miasma and destruction that led to the revolution. Those parts where he talked about how many Russian soldiers were slaughtered due to the tsar's negligence and incompetence were heartbreakingly awful.
It was sometimes difficult to keep all the people straight, but that was in part because so many ministers got shuffled in and out. The photos in the middle of the book helped, and I found those fascinating too. In the last third of the book, Moynahan seemed to be presenting the same kind of information over & over again, not really advancing much, but I think that owes much to the fact that it was rather stunning how long that situation went on. I wished he had spent a little more time on the summation that he provided in the last two pages. But I suppose presenting the facts and making few conclusions is probably more rigorous historiography.
In all, I was completely absorbed. I read this in bits each night at bedtime, and it got so that I looked forward to going to bed so I could read more of this. Bravo.
It was sometimes difficult to keep all the people straight, but that was in part because so many ministers got shuffled in and out. The photos in the middle of the book helped, and I found those fascinating too. In the last third of the book, Moynahan seemed to be presenting the same kind of information over & over again, not really advancing much, but I think that owes much to the fact that it was rather stunning how long that situation went on. I wished he had spent a little more time on the summation that he provided in the last two pages. But I suppose presenting the facts and making few conclusions is probably more rigorous historiography.
In all, I was completely absorbed. I read this in bits each night at bedtime, and it got so that I looked forward to going to bed so I could read more of this. Bravo.
Read
March 27, 2016This book was a really interesting look into the complicated life of a man who had some of the greatest influence in all of Russia during the final years of the Romanov Empire. The intricate detail, good use of descriptions to capture the reader, and the use of many reliable sources make this a fascinating read for anyone interested in taking a look one of the biggest reasons of the fall of Imperial Russia.
May 21, 2016
This book took me a while to read, not because it was boring but I was lazy in reading it. Overall it was well-written, delving into the life of Rasputin. I will admit I was surprised at how much influence he had over Alexandra Romanov and who held positions within WWI Russia's tsarist government. The book explains who he was, what he was able to do, and why he was killed in a very easy to read but not boring story. Recommended to any who enjoy history, especially Russian history.
November 13, 2007
i loved how this book went into depth on the history and culture of the times and the royal family as well as all the insight into Rasputin's character--suspicions of his religious claims and relations with royalty, but also discusses his role in aiding the poor and saving Jews at a time of discrimination and warfare. No one is one-dimensional and this book illustrates that perfectly.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 42 reviews