Joseph T. Fuhrmann - Rasputin. The Untold Story [2013][A]

Book Description
Publication Date: October 1, 2012
An entirely original account of the life of Gregory Rasputin that goes beyond legend, myth and misunderstanding to reveal the tragedy of the peasant who befriended the Tsar and the Empress, healed their son, and helped to bring down the Russian Empire.
In Fuhrmann’s skilled hands, Rasputin becomes a vital and exciting human being, not just a symbol of dissolution and sexual excess. The author considers a number of fundamental questions:

• How did Rasputin heal the Tsarevich’s bouts of haemophilia?
• What were his mysterious religious teachings?
• How great was his power in the Russian state?
• What was the secret of his appeal to women?
• Were foreign agents involved in his murder?

Fuhrmann also lays to rest an old question that still fascinates many people: Does Rasputin’s murder suggest that his mystical powers included some mysterious ability to resist death? No one intrigued by the last years of Imperial Russia will want to miss this book.

"This vivid, briskly written biography brings to life one of the most colorful and sinister figures in modern Russian history."Publishers Weekly

"A vivid if not lurid portrayal."Boston Globe

"Extremely well written, concise, and as promised in the foreword, he leaves the reader to draw their own conclusions."Alexander Palace Forum

Editorial Review
From Publishers Weekly
* Using material from newly opened Soviet archives, particularly the correspondence of Czar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra, Fuhrmann, an emeritus professor of history at Murray State University in Kentucky, extends the range of his Rasputin: A Life (1990). He shows how an obscure Russian Orthodox monk became a close adviser to the czar and czarina, particularly after he predicted the recovery of their son, Alexis, from a possibly fatal illness in 1909. Alexandra turned to him for advice on Russia’s WWI military campaign, and he influenced the appointment of high officials. This outsize influence, and rumors that Rasputin was pro-German, impelled a cabal of members of the nobility to assassinate him in December 1916. Fuhrman provides graphic details of the murder and weighs the evidence that the British Secret Intelligence Service participated in the plot. Fuhrmann draws a complex portrait of a dissolute alcoholic figure who allegedly raped at least one woman, yet he was seen by his many followers as a starets (charismatic holy man). Fuhrmann does not provide a final appraisal of Rasputin’s significance in the immediate prerevolution period. Still, this vivid, briskly written biography brings to life one of the most colorful and sinister figures in modern Russian history. Illus. Agent: Andrew Lownie, Andrew Lownie Literary Agency. (Nov.) (Publishers Weekly, August 2012)

From the Inside Flap
Legend portrays Rasputin as the "Mad Monk" who rampaged through St. Petersburg in an alcoholic haze, making love to scores of women. A symbol of excess and religious extremism, he was believed to hold a mysterious power, emanating from his hypnotic eyes, over Tsar Nicolas II and his family. The fact that he was neither mad nor a monk has not stopped scores of writers from repeating these and other bogus claims.
In Rasputin: The Untold Story, Rasputin scholar Joseph Fuhrmann shares the fruits of his two-decade search for the truth about Rasputin through previously closed Soviet archives. The man he discovers is entirely human and even more fascinating than the Svengali-like caricature imagined by millions.
This definitive biography unveils the truth behind Gregory Rasputin's storied life, controversial relationships, and much-discussed death. Fuhrmann unearths previously unknown details from Rasputin's childhood and his early years as a farmer and itinerant preacher to his decade-long relationship with the Romanovs.
This exposé features an account of the Church investigation into charges that Rasputin was a member of the heretical Khlysty, as well as the report from a new bishop that resolved the case in Rasputin's favor. It provides a new and accurate account of a deranged woman's attempt to murder Rasputin in the summer of 1914 and a pioneering exploration of Rasputin's and the Romanovs' surprising tolerance of homosexuals—men who were out of the closet and forging public careers that would have been inconceivable anywhere else in the world at the time.
But what of Rasputin's mysterious powers? Was he a faith healer who actually stopped the hemophiliac tsarevich's bleeding at will? Could he hypnotize and control others with his eyes? Is it true that his murderers first poisoned, then shot, then beat him, before throwing him into an ice-choked river, where he finally drowned? Was British intelligence involved in the plot to murder Rasputin? Fuhrmann answers these questions and many more.
Whether or not he possessed superpowers, Rasputin was an undeniably powerful figure who played an important role in the Russian Empire's collapse. Fuhrmann portrays Rasputin's relationship with Nicholas and Alexandra through previously unpublished letters from the tsar and his wife to Rasputin and excerpts from Rasputin's personal notebooks.
Complete with many rare photos, including studio photographs of Rasputin, and samples of his handwriting, Rasputin: The Untold Story does more than set the record straight. It tells the powerful and tragic story of a man who started out with noble intentions and sincere convictions but fell victim to greed, lust, temptation, and his own power.

From the Back Cover
Based on new sources—the definitive biography of Rasputin, with revelations about his life, death, and involvement with the Romanovs
A century after his death, Gregory Rasputin remains fascinating: the Russian peasant with hypnotic eyes who befriended Tsar Nicholas II and helped destroy the Russian Empire, but the truth about his strange life has never been fully told. Written by the world's leading authority on Rasputin, this new biography draws on previously closed Soviet archives to offer new information on Rasputin's relationship with Empress Alexandra, sensational revelations about his sexual conquests, a re-examination of his murder, and more.

"A meticulously researched biography of Rasputin, combining previously unavailable Russian archive material with contemporary documents and memoirs to expose many of the myths and misconceptions about this enigmatic man. A riveting read."—Coryne Hall, author of Imperial Dancer: Mathilde Kschessinska and the Romanovs

"With the benefit of new research, Joseph Fuhrmann takes us on a fascinating exploration of the life of one of history's most enigmatic characters, Gregory Yefimovich Rasputin. From Siberian childhood, to unimagined power at the heart of the Russian Imperial Family, to the drama of his assassination, it is a colorful and evocative journey."—Christopher Warwick, Royal Biographer and author of Ella: Princess, Saint, and Martyr

"A startling and original account of the life of Gregory Rasputin based on extensive research in distant Siberian archives, recently opened police records, and a thoughtful analysis of the published literature. Rasputin: The Untold Story goes beyond the legends and the scandals to reveal both the human being and the personal tragedy that helped bring down the Russian Empire. In Fuhrmann's skilled hands, Rasputin is no longer simply a cardboard cut-out, a symbol of dissolution and sexual depravity. Fuhrmann reveals his subject's many humane qualities, and his real, though limited, ideas. No one intrigued by the last years of Imperial Russia will want to miss this book."—Richard G. Robbins Jr., Professor Emeritus, University of New Mexico

About the Author
JOSEPH T. FUHRMANN, Emeritus Professor of History at Murray State University in Kentucky, received his PhD from Indiana University, one of the leading centers for Russian studies. He attended Moscow University from 1965 to 1966. His first biography of Rasputin, Rasputin: A Life, was regarded as the best book on the subject. Since gaining access to previously closed Soviet archives, he has worked from 1991 in Russian repositories and studied a host of unpublished documents. The first biography inspired documentaries on A&E and the History Channel. He has appeared in three programs as an interviewed guest and as script consultant for two of them.