Isadora Duncan was a larger than life figure of the first part of the century. Both her work and her lifestyle guaranteed her the attention of the world. Mr. Kurth's biography brings the innovative dancer back to life clarifying many details at the same time. Ms. Duncan tended to either gloss over or sensationalize various aspects of her history and this book separates fact from fantasy. The photographs are very good, as is the narrative.

Here is an excellent biography of someone whose life combined artistic achievement with personal dysfunction. Arguably the creator of what we now refer to as "modern dance," Isadora Duncan certainly filled her "sensational" personal life with a series of adventures and misadventures while struggling to sustain a career during which so many of her knowledgeable contemporaries praised her artistic talents and achievements. Consider these comments:

"I got an impression of enormous grace, and enormous power in her dancing -- she was very serious, and held the audience and held them completely." (Frederick Ashton)

"She moved with those wonderful steps of hers with simplicity and detachment that could only come through the intuition of genius itself." (Tamara Karsavina)

"She incarnated music in her dance." (Serge Kousevitsky)

"The soul becomes drunk with this endless succession of beautiful lines and groupings [of movement]." (Ernest Newman)

"The greatest woman I have ever known....Sometimes I think she is the greatest woman the world has ever known." (Rodin)

Impressive accolades indeed which, for me, increase the poignancy (at times the tragedy) of her poor judgment and irresponsible behavior when not performing before an always adoring audience. Even for those who know little (if anything) about dance, Kurth has written an absorbing, at times compelling biography of a woman who (in the words of a contemporary, Janet Flanner) embodied "the grandeur of permanent ideals...[but was] too expansive for personal salvation."

By the time I approached the final chapter of Kurth's biography, I had observed a number of similarities between Isadora's life and the lives of Edna St. Vincent Millay and Sylvia Plath. For example, their original and substantial talent, their excessive self-indulgences, their passion for experiencing (both physically and emotionally) as much as possible each day, and their vulnerabilities which so many others exploited shamelessly. With Whitman in mind, Robert Gottlieb observes: "For Isadora there were no rules, there was only the Song of Herself; she lacked the discipline, the emotional and moral resources, to keep liberty from lapsing into license." Such is often the fate of a genius which, by most accounts, Isadora Duncan was. "Sensational" indeed.

I picked this book up by mistake several years ago. I thought it was a bio of Dorothy Parker. It was possibly the best mistake I ever made. Thompson is now a forgotten figure, somehow escaping the accolades heaped upon her peers.

Yet she was a fantastic and inovative woman, breaking new career paths and new ideas. Sure, she wasn't the most likeable of people. But with Thompson that's not the point.

This book has sent me on a five year quest to gather all of the information I can about her, from her book "I Saw Hitler" to collections of her essays. I've been on a tangential search for every thing relating to her I can get my hands on.

And it's all because Kurth wrote a spectacular and engaging biography.

...with an excellent accompanying text. The photos a generally well-presented and wonderfully-selected. The book as a whole presents to the reader a family that is at once normal and extraordinary, silly and stately, casual and imperial, joyful and tragic. Great for the coffee table.

I've read about the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family for years, but I never felt like I really understood their lives and their lifestyle until I bought and read this book. The text is an interesting historical summation, but it doesn't reveal anything your average student of Russian history wouldn't already know. What is so special about this book is the pictures. Beautiful full-color photos of the magnificient palaces and locations frequented by the Russian royal family are displayed next to a comprehensive collection of historical photos from the era. In addition to the classic royal portraits you have probably seen, there are many candid photos of the family going about their daily life. Frequently, a historical picture is shown next to a gorgeous contemporary photograph of the same locale. For example, a black and white photograph of two of the Grand Duchess rowing past the "children's island" at Tsarkoe Selo is shown with a brilliantly colored picture of the same spot as it looks today. Thanks to these beautiful photographs, I have a whole new appreciation of the incredible luxury of the royal surroundings, and what a grand contrast it must have been to the lifestyle of the average Russian peasants.

Anastasia Author Peter Kurth has compiled one of the best books published on the last Russian imperial family. He summarized the life of Nicholas II and Alexandra of Russia and their children excellently. Stories from the old black and white pictures came alive with Peter Christopher's photographs on the relics of Imperial Russia. This book is already a classic

Kurth's satifsying book on Anna Anderson indeed leaves one puzzled in light of the subsequent DNA testing. I read this book before the tests were made, found it convincing, and still do. It seems that a more interesting question than whether this woman was the Grand Duchess Anastasia, is the question of why an obscure Polish woman would undertake a life of overwhelming suffering by claiming to be whom she apparently was not, since, whatever the truth, this affair was more than a charade performed by a charlatan. There remains a mystical element deep within the mystery of Anna Anderson, one which I suspect DNA testing is incapable of addressing. Kurth's exposition of his subject is well done, if a bit over-engaged. His love for the mystery of this woman over the mystery of her identity, for the recovery of the lost, and an almost fin-de-siecle ministering to the Romanov legend, makes the discourse a little florid in spots. But the prose is generally kempt, Kurth has a genuine intelligence, and the story is a captivating one. Kurth's humility in face of the declarations of science is admirable and makes one the more sympathetic, and baffled, by the outcome. This is a first-rate read, however, and I suspect history has not entirely played out the story of Anna-Anastasia.

It was a great pleasure for me to read Peter Kurth's book. I have read most of the books written about the Anna Anderson/Anastasia affair and I find Mr. Kurth's book to be the best due to the extensive amount of research he has performed. Although the DNA "evidence" has concluded that Anna Anderson Manahan was a polish factory worker...I still believe that she was indeed Her Imperial Highness Grand Duchess Anastasia Nicolaevna Romanov. I would highly recommend Peter Kurth's book to anyone interested in this subject because it provides an opportunity to learn about all of the other overwhelming evidence in Mrs. Manahan's favor that contradicts the DNA results.

In support of Mr Kurth's scrupulously researched and fascinating opus, it is worth pointing out that the world's media seized all too readily on the results of "Fraulein Unbekannt's" bowel tissue(!) Ok, so those of us who were convinced by this book would definitely have triumphantly seized upon a positive DNA match between Anna Anderson & the Romanov bones as the last scientific word, but all the same... Those DNA tests not only contradicted all the other evidence pointing to Anna's authenticity, they contradicted each other. Three DNA tests were done - two very strongly resulting in a DNA match between Anna and a great nephew of Franzizka Shanzkowzka, but the third matching neither with the Romanov's NOR the Shanzozkowzka's. Whilst not proving Anna was Grand Duchess Anastasia, it certainly proves these results simply are not reliable, and, yup folks, this mystery is far from over.