Name: Alex Roland's review of The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming
Item: The Family Romanov
Rating: 4
Author: Alex Roland

Candace Fleming

The award-winning author of The Lincolns traces the story of the Russian Revolution, the lives of the Romanov family and the story of their tragic deaths, in an account that draws on primary source materials and includes period photography. Simultaneous eBook.

Murder, Rebellion & the Fall of Imperial Russia

The Family Romanov

Alex Roland

Good, I felt like she validated the communist revolution though and it was a little bias 

amelia <3

Lacy W

I am an avid history buff. I love anything Russian, WWII, and the monarchs. Seriously, I could just gobble it all up. I picked up this particular book because I do not know much about the Romanov family. All I knew was that there is mystery surrounding how exactly they died. I know that they couldn't find all of the family member's remains. I know about communism because I did a paper about Kruschev in college. But other than that, I know very little about Russian monarch history.

Even though this book is a biography or whatever you would like to call it, it reads like a narrative. It helps that the author has included journal entries, letters and other ways to bring the Romanov's to life. I am amazed that Tzar Nicholas managed to remain Tzar as long as he did. Clearly, his father did not prepare him to run a giant country. Maybe if he had taken the time to do that, Tzar Nicholas would have been a much better ruler. I felt that particular thought throughout the course of this book. 

With biographies and books like this, there is a possibility of information overload. You know, where the author just throws out so much info it gets overwhelming? That was not the case with this book. The author gave the information in a way that it wasn't overwhelming. I felt like I was living with the Romanovs. 

I even liked that the author included information that wasn't about the Romanov's but it still pertained to them in some way. It makes for a much better read. Like the rise of Communism. Tsar Nicholas might not have known about it or cared to do anything about it, but it was still happening and it still pertained to him. 

The Romanov's were brought to life in such a great way. I had no idea how any of the children were or just how sick the boy was. It's amazing that the author was able to fit so much information in this book. I loved reading about how Nicholas met his wife and I loved learning about his childhood. This was just a tremendously amazing book. I couldn't get enough of it.

Ryan LaFerney

The murder of the Romanov family is surely a complex and still contentious topic. While I agree that Candace Fleming's The Family Romanov gives teens (the books target audience) a decent understanding of a very complex era and provides a lot of food for thought about the causes and effects of important individuals, societal attitudes, and the Russian revolution, as a student of history and as an Eastern Orthodox Christian, I found this book to be a little troubling. There are flaws to Fleming's scholarship and to her approach to the topic. While I applaud Fleming's idea to weave three stories into one ( 1. A story of the intimate lives of the Romanov family itself 2. A description of the events from the worker strikes of 1905 until Vladimir Lenin took power in 1917 3. An observation of the life of the average man/ a peasant at the turn of the 20th century and how it contrasted with the lives of the very wealthy, particularly the Tsar and his extended family), I was bothered to see how this narrative served to almost validate the cause of the communists. Lenin was not the glorious revolutionary who came back to help his people and end the war abroad and at home out of necessity. He was power hungry. And the Romanovs were not clueless, rich idiots. Now, Fleming weaves the threads together to provoke discussion and thought regarding what is right and wrong. And surely this book could be used to ignite a decent debate about morality in a political science high school class. However....

I personally have a hard time endorsing Fleming's book for a few reasons. One of the major flaws is that she took some creative liberties and seemed to craft a few thoughts, decisions, conversations of the historical characters that could not be verified. When quotations are used we don't know where the source is directly coming from. This really bothers me! It is just poor scholarship and it honestly makes it read like a work of fiction. It really reads as a made-up story that presents the Russian Royal Family as mere idiots, which honestly, is just insulting. 

Which brings me to....Robert K. Massie. The annoying popular historian who wrote the ever-popular Nicholas and Alexandra, whose work influenced The Family Romanov immensely. Fleming trusted a poor scholar for her scholarship as well. Massie also took liberties with the personal portrayals of the Romanovs. And brings a very Western mindset to his interpretation of Russian history. Flemings interpretation is very Western as well.

Eastern Orthodoxy, the Christian faith of the Ramanovs and millions around the world, is misinterpreted by Fleming as well as focusing merely on strange and mystical encounters and miraculous healings. The miraculous does indeed happen and yet I can assure you that the Orthodox Church is not as "foreign" as Fleming makes it sound. It is not a superstitious religion (as Fleming made the mindset of the royalty out to be).I wish this book took the faith of the Ramanovs into account and really treated their faith with more respect. Their devotion to God is so inspiring which brings me to....

Their martyrdom. I believe the Ramonovs are saints (note: this does not mean I endorse monarchist regimes). I also believe Lenin is clearly to blame for the death of the family, since he later endorsed the shooting and did not punish the killers. I'm glad Fleming acknowledged their sainthood, even if there was a debate about what level of sanctity they should be granted. And here is the thing about martyred saints: they strived to the very end to love God, even if they were flawed individuals. Czar Nicholas may not have been the most effective ruler but at least he lead his country in fear and trembling. He might have made wrong decisions but he did so prayerfully and with the help of trusted aides. Can you say that about Lenin or Stalin? No. How many died under Stalin again?

It's an okay book. Fleming can craft a readable (yet historically questionable) narrative. Just read it with a grain of salt.

Missy Zuber 

Great book. Easy to follow and understand. I like how the author made it simple without losing any details. As a lover of all things Romanov, this book was a must that I'd recommend to history fans or even those just toeing the waters of the Romanovs.

Campbell Berry

This book was alright. I enjoyed the beginning but it soon started to drag out and I didn’t enjoy the diary entries. I did love the photos though.

Kim Tyo-Dickerson

The Family Romanov is a winning example of accessible, suspenseful nonfiction, the history of one of world history's most fascinating and tragic royal families contrasted step by step with clear-eyed views into the lives of peasants and Bolshevik revolutionaries. Primary source photos and document excerpts from the perspectives of the Russian people, inserted carefully into the narrative and never distracting, throw the blatant opulence and willful ignorance of their aristocracy into sharp, inescapable relief. Suspenseful and informative, I will be recommending this to students with an interest in revolutions, Russian history, and World War I, as well as anyone still enthralled by the Anastasia myth.

Becca Leigh

I really want to start reading more nonfiction, and this was a good place to start! It’s written almost like a historical fiction novel, but it is all true accounts. I love that the author included portions called “Outside the Palace Gates”, in which she juxtaposed the lives of the common people to that of the royals. 
It still leaves with some mystery, some unknown opinions. Did the Romanov’s deserve the life they were given? Did everything happen for a reason? 
It is hard to read some of the violence included in this book, but it is stating the facts of what really happened. This was definitely an interesting introduction into a topic I knew very little about before!

Alex Roland &
The Family Romanov by Candace Fleming

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