A friend gave me this book to read, and I must say it was the best thing I've ever read. From the beginning to the end. You just become one the Anne. I felt like I was the one going through all the her ups and downs in a extremely predijuce town. With the way some took to her and others didn't hesitate to let her know how they felt. Knowing how true it was and still is about peoples feelings of what was then called half-breeds. Anne was so strong and brave and always wanting to do what was right. Taking in Chuck and Ethel when their mother died. Knowing they'd never have the chance to advance if she didn't. The story is well written and very captivating. I was a little let down at the end. I would have loved to see what else happened - the ajustments Chuck and Ethel had to make, and much more about Anne and Fred's love for each other. I was hoping there would be a sequeal. Once finished with the book. I read the last six chapters again before giving it back to my friend. Then went right out and bought it for myself.

I met Anne Hobbs Purdy in Junior High School. Her story captured my imagination and still does to this day. I have read Tisha many times and every reading captures my heart. Her courage to stand for what she believed to be right in the face of opposition, is a lesson that carries through almost 80 years later. Alaska, seen through her eyes, is a place of incredible beauty and harsh reality. Even though I wanted to crawl into the pages and do battle with some of the characters, they also earned my grudging respect. Anne's will power, strength of heart, and sheer determination to do what she knew was right, made her a formidable force. The book I own is a treasured possession, signed for my father. She writes, "Happy landings from the Land of the Midnite Sun, Yellow Gold, and Determined mosquitoes." A must read book!

I teach high school literature in a suburban school in the midwest. I bought Tisha for my daughter, then read it myself. It is a captivating read. There are few "challenges" for even students who read slowly, yet the story and heroics are attractive even to sophisticated readers. For years, I have offered "extra credit" to students who will read a novel of my selection over Chirstmas. In recent years, I offered books by Farley Mowat and The Catcher in the Rye. Kids usually have great intentions, take books, but return from the holliday having not finished the book. Usually I would have about 10 out of 25 who finished the book/s and liked it. This year I gave out Tisha. 35 out of 50 finished it. I had trouble getting the books back because kids had given them to their parents to read.

When I was about 15, my mother brought home this book for me to read. It was called The Three Investigators and the Mystery of the Talking Skull. I am 26 now and still hooked on the trio of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw, and Bob Andrews.

Like all of the other Three Investigator books that I have read, The Secret of Terror Castle is just wonderful. It is suspensful and interesting throughout the whole book. Be aware of reading it because it will get you hooked and you will have to buy all the books in the series.

I hope the whole series comes out again, because I have not read about 15 of them. My fondest memories of the books I have are the Three Investigators hideout or clubhouse. They made it out of a junk pile and it has different passage ways. I dreamed of having a clubhouse while reading the books. Get out there and buy these books. I'm sure that you will be glad you did.

Wow. I'm 33 years old and thought I am probably the only adult who would pick up a Three Investigator's book and read it. I am here looking for some of The Three Investigator's books for my girlfriend's son. I saved a few of the books I had as a child, a couple of them in hardback, with the intent of saving them for my children. Most of the books I read in the series I checked out at the library. Reading these books provided some of my fondest childhood memories. The young man I am buying these books for has just discovered a love for reading and I believe that these stories will hook them just like they did me. Amazon, please act upon the suggestions of others and release the entire series if possible.

The Alfred Hitchcock and the Three Investigators series was the best juvenile mystery series I ever read, and is of such high quality that I can still read and enjoy it as an adult. In fact, I only need "The Mystery of the Cranky Collector", the last book in the original series, to complete my collection.

For far too long these books have been out of print, though I understand they're still being published in Europe. With their return, a whole new generation of readers can thrill to the adventures of Jupiter Jones, Pete Crenshaw and Bob Andrews.

In "The Secret of Terror Castle", Jupe, Pete and Bob, whose motto is "We Investigate Anything", investigate an allegedly haunted house in order to prove their mettle. Author Robert Arthur not only gives the boys distinct personalities, rather than making them "types", he also has them conduct their investigation in a logical, methodical fashion, even as they deal with a trouble maki! ng rival. He also plants clues throughout the text to give the reader a sporting chance to solve the mystery.

Arthur and his successors further respected their readers' intelligence by making the endings of the books logical developments of the stories, rather than coming up with a contrived solution. Granted, the means by which Jupe, Pete and Bob become involved in "The Mystery of the Silver Spider", a later book in the series, is a bit contrived. However, that story is also good, and throughout the series as a whole, the writers don't talk down to their readers.

Readers of the original hardcover editions may remember an illustration on the endpapers that depicted Hitchcock in profile behind a spider web on one page, while the facing page showed Jupe, with magnifying glass, Pete, with tape recorder, and Bob, with a home made walkie-talkie, making their way through a cemetery at night. That drawing exuded an atmosphere of mystery, and Random House might want to! consider duplicating it, sans Hitchcock, of course, in the! current paperback reissues.

In fact, Hitchcock's absense is the only negative aspect of the revised version. He added a touch of realism, because he was a real person. Now, he has been replaced by the fictional characters of Reginald Clarke and Hector Sebastian, and the illusion that Jupe, Pete and Bob might have been real people is gone. This is a minor point, of course, and doesn't affect the stories themselves.

At least not until the series gets to #31, "The Mystery of the Scar-Faced Beggar", the first post-Hitchcock volume. Jupe, Pete and Bob meet Hector Sebastian for the first time in that story-- a meeting which is central to the plot. I hope the series will continue to sell, so we'll see how that problem will be addressed.

Better still, I hope Random House publishes new adventures after the old ones have been reprinted.

Although one's search begins with an alphabetized listing, the main body of this thesaurus (its original concept) is organized by category. This means that to find a synonym for e.g., "trouble", you will not simply be presented a list all the possible meanings of the word but you can choose your search depending upon the sense you are looking for. If you mean "annoyance" you will be sent one place for synonyms (nouns, verbs, adj, adv); if your meaning is more "presume upon" you will be sent somewhere else. In the case of "trouble" there are about a dozen places to go in the thesaurus depending upon the subtlety of meaning you are looking for. If you are a writer, this reference work is a sine qua non. Look no further than here for the best thesaurus in the world.

If you're a writer or interested in language this book is indispensible. This 6th edition is the first thesaurus I've owned and I wonder why I waited so long to get one. The first section of the book is a catalog of words grouped together by subject with the subjects listed at the beginning of the book. The second half of the book is the index, where a word can be found alphabetically and then indexed numerically to the categories in the front. I've spent some time perusing this book and I should say that I've had no difficulty with the typeface.

This book will make you think about words in a way that you never have before. It is an absolute must for anyone who endeavors to communicate well in the English language.

If you can think of a word to start out with, but want to search for a better one, you can look the word up in the alphabetically arranged index. There, you will find listed several different faces of the word, some representing subtle variations in the word's meaning that you may have never considered before. Then, after thinking about what aspect of the word most closely resembles your intended meaning, you can look up the word's various implications in the main body of the book. There, you'll discover a plethora of other words of similar meaning.

You'll find the body of the book organizes all of human experience into categories..."the body and the senses", "feelings", "place", "measure and shape", etc.. If you want to describe something intangible, such as an emotion, and cannot even think of one word to begin with, you can wander through the categories of human emotion... pleasure, excitement, contentment... sadness, regret, lamentation...until you find what you are trying to describe. This process helps stimulate thought about exactly what you want to say. A merely alphabetical thesaurus could never offer anything like this.

This was one of my very favorite books as a child. Parents with young children would do well to read this book to them. It is the story of a young bull (Ferdinand) who learns to stay true to his own unique self. While all the other bulls all want to be mean and fierce, Ferdinand instead is a gentle and loving soul. Yet the situation comes where people try to force Ferdinand to comply. Ferdinand is taken to fight in the bull fights! Will he be faithful to himself, or will he go along with the crowds? Yes, there are deep morality questions and ethics here) Indeed, both parents and children will be touched by the timeless message of hope and strength that is Ferdinand. It truly is a book that children need to know and model.

Of course you may be familiar with the Disney cartoon, but the real story is definetely worth reading to your child. A young, gentle bull who loves the simple things is mistaken for a terrifying, awesome, crowd pleasing bull. He is brought to Madrid to fight the Matador. Read and see what happens! I love this sweet simple little tale. This story was written so long ago, but it still is appealing to children today. Next time you go for a drive "in the country," look for Ferdinand with your children!

My mother-in-law gave me her copy of this book (printed in 1938) when my oldest child was 4 or 5 years old and we just adored this story! In fact, she (my daughter) loved it so much she memorized it within months. I chose this book to read to her 2nd grade class and they, too, felt the magic of how the fierce bull loved to just sit and "smell the flowers"! I just sat down tonight to read it for the first time to my youngest child (5 years old) and he already knew how the story went. I asked him how he knew it and if his sister already read it to him, because I had not yet done so. He told me that nobody read it to him, that his sister (now 11 years old) already told him about it. He went on to explain every page to me before I even read it! Maybe it's because it's such a different subject for a children's book ( a bull, a tree, a bee and oh, those flowers!) or it could be because we don't have a great deal of access to bull fighting here in America...none the less, it's a story that stays with you, if only because of it's simplicity. Kind of refreshing.

Unfortunately I did not read The Silver Crown in elementary school when I should have, but years later when I first had a chance to lay my hands on a copy--I had been interested in the book for some time because of the very unique character of the author. Needless to say, because of this belated introduction, I was not immersed in the book so deeply as many of the other persons here (hence my 4/5 star review). On the other hand, I am extremely sympathetic toward the plight of Robert's books (all 4 are extraordinary in some way, and I imagine it is miraculous that half of them remain in print). When I set up a biographical page on Robert in 1996 I began to get e-mails asking me where one could acquire copies of the silver crown. Of course, there is no real answer to this. I think McMillian had it in print extremely briefly in the late 80's/early 90's, but this version had an alternate ending I have heard described by one reader as lame and apparently significantly weakened the book. To the extremely dedicated, I suggest finding out who the last publisher was and sending them e-mail as to the possibility of getting the book back in print--I believe there are other publishing houses that would be willing to do it if McMillian(?) is not. Lastly, I keep a list of folks looking for out of print O'Brien books (I do turn up extra copies of the Silver Crown now and then), if interested, e-mail me.

I read the Silver Crown in 4th grade, and never forgot it. I've been searching for years, and nobody ever heard of it! I though I was losing my mind! Unfortunately, I didn't keep my old books from when I was a kid, and I'm trying to find my old favorites to give to my daughter. It's a shame this book is out of print. For a book to have such an impact on young people, but in a good way, should always be available for future generations to enjoy and learn from it.

I broke my leg when I was in the fourth grade and was unable to participate in p.e. for 4 months. I spent my p.e. time at the school library. The wonderful school librarian reccomended The Silver Crown to me and told me that it was one of the best books that she had ever read. I couldn't have agreed with her more! This book transported me to another world and I was devastated to find out that it was no longer in print. I now teach fifth grade and I am constantly telling my class what a magical book this was. Surely some publisher will read this and re-print this masterpiece. I would LOVE to get my hands on a copy.

I would recommend this book if you wish to find out the fates of Anne's children as adults, but don't expect it to be as enchanting as the rest of the Anne books. I felt that it was too sad and had a rather dark and unhappy air about it; none of the characters seemed really happy through any of it.

I felt that although this book was very well written and portrayed the effects of the war on Rilla and Prince Edward Island very well, it didn't quite reach the same caliber that the rest of the Anne books did.

I loved Anne and she is my favorite character in any book I've read. In "Rilla," however, Anne seemed completely erased. Montgomery persistantly referred to her as "Mother" or "Mrs. Blythe" and never really opened any window into Anne's feelings or reactions to the war. Susan, who is just the maid was more of a mother than Anne was, and I find that to be backwards. I also felt that the rest of the cast were really not involved enough at all, except those who had something to do with Rilla. For example, I would have liked to hear about the romances between Jem and Faith and Jerry and Nan with a little more detail. Furthermore, there were times I even forgot that Di, Una, Nan, and Shirley even existed. The entire book revolved far too much around Rilla, with not near enough emphasis on the minor characters, except Walter and Ken.

I did enjoy the transition between Rilla becoming a frivolous, vain girl to a responsible, mature woman and I respected her for the trials she was able to bear. However, I felt that she lacked the vivacity and other qualities that make a heroine memorable.

I have read all of the books in the Anne series and I must say that this is by far my favorite. Even though it is not so much about Anne as it is about her daughter it is interesting to read because Rilla is very much like her mother in some ways. I loved the parts with Rilla and Kenneth Ford because their families have history which caused for entertaining reading because it also tells how a girl feels when she likes a boy. The best but saddest part of the book was when Walter died (sorry to spoil it for you but if you read the other books you would remember something about "a white cross somewhere in France"). When I read Walter's letter to Rilla that she recieved after his death I cried. If you like to cry I would recommend this book, even if you don't I still recommend it and the other Anne books.

By far, I feel that this is my favorite of the Anne of Green Gables series. I truly loved this book. Rilla Blythe is, at the beginning of the story, a vain and naive young girl, but by the end of the book she seemed to blossom into a sensitive, unselfish young woman. She is strong despite the cruelty of the war and the loss of her beloved brother, Walter. When Walter died, L.M. Montgomery painted the feelings of the characters so vividly that I shed a few tears along with his family and friends and with the one young woman who loved him, but was too shy to let him know...and lost him "somewhere in France." I had learned to grow fond of Walter, and I was very sad to see him go. All in all, this book is a very heartwarming, loving, classic book that I found very enjoyable. In the preceeding 7 "Anne" books, the scenery and way of life on P.E.I seemed calm and perfect.....but in Rilla of Ingleside, L.M. Montgomery lets us know that perfection can be spoiled and our lives could be waken up with a jolt, although at times not a very pleasant one. For anyone who is a fan of L.M. Montgomery and of Anne Shirley, her family and friends, I would recommend reading this book. It is a treasure.

Imagine you1re living in the midst of the 19th century. You1re 19, far from friends and family, and to top it all off, your husband dies and you are two months pregnant with his child.........

Love Comes Softly is an eight book series written by Christian author Jannette Oke. I thought when my mother-in-law tried to get me to read her books, that I was in for another mushy Harlequin Romance novel, filled with people involved with three, four or five men, and definitely no sign of God in their lives. Boy, was I in for a VERY pleasant surprise. Mrs. Oke leads us through the life of a very young Marty Davis, who has just left her family in the east, to travel west with her new husband , Clem. Clem and Marty had been living out of their wagon, eating pancakes and drinking coffee EVERY day, because that1s all that Marty knew how to make. Unexpectedly, though, Clem dies, and Marty is left alone with child and no home, no money, and just what she has in her wagon.

The Love Comes Softly series then begins to take us through the struggles Marty has to overcome and Mrs. Oke guides us so beautifully, that we feel like we are right there with Marty. The eight books lead us through 40 years in Marty and her family1s lives. I enjoyed every minute of the readings. Never has a book so captured me like Mrs. Oke1s did.

I try to count my blessings every day, but after reading this group of books, I found more to be thankful for. I never stopped to realize what the generations before us went through. With Marty, I learned what is was like to bear a child with no husband and no doctor around--just a local lady that had delivered many babies. I learned what it was like to leave family behind, knowing that you will probably never see them again--or even hear from them again.

The funniest part of the series was in the very first book. Marty decides she will try to make her new husband a chicken and dumpling meal. Well........she goes to the chicken pen to try and catch one. After tearing apart then pen, she finally catches one of only two roosters (she didn1t know she was supposed to only kill the female). Once she gets him, she has no idea as to how to kill him, so she decides to tie him up and kill him--that didn1t work, and she wound up cutting off the beak of the prize rooster. When her husband, Clark comes home, he finds the pen in disarray, and sees his rooster with no beak and he comes to find out that Marty was just trying to cook him his first real meal. This part cracked me up, along with the part where she tries to fix biscuits and they turn out as hard as rocks.

You have to read the books in order. They just keep continuing with this saga. The best book in the series was book four. I can1t tell you why, for it would give the ending for the rest of the series, but it was the book that kept me the most fascinated. The hardest part about the series was the way she wrote it. She wrote it with the accents as they would have said things. It was hard at first, but I got used to it by the second book. I highly recommend her books, and am looking forward to the next series I am about to read. The new series is from the Canadian West. It involves new characters, and therefore new lives.

I would really appreciate hearing from others who have read her books--especially the Love Comes Softly series. It would be enjoyable to talk with others about Jannette Oke1s books. You can find her work at any Christian bookstore or even the library. They are expensive, between $9-13.00, but they are worth their price. I found twelve of her books at the library, though. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have. It is definitely a series I would read again and again, and I look forward to my two daughters growing up and wanting to read them as well. They are written in the same manner as the Little House on the Prairie series by Laura Ingalls Wilder. ENJOY!!!!!!

This is a wonderful story about family life at a time when people did not possess much material things but instead loved and cared for one another unconditionally. The story begins with Clark and Marty and goes on to include the lives of their children. What drew me to read and reread this series of books is the way it is written with so much love and understanding. There are many moral issues dealing with the Christian God and how the righteous man would behave. It is therefore also a book of learning. I would highly recommend this series. This is one of the few series of books that I would consider to be worth spending money on. I know that I will reread it many more times. Janette Oke is an excellent storyteller.

My aunt suprised me one day with the LOVE COMES SOFTLY series she had had for a couple years. I put off reading them for a couple years because I was only eight! I started the first book when I was 11 and just could not put it down! I read the whole series and it had a very big impact on me. I've read the first three books at least ten times each, never getting bored with them and the rest of the series at least three. Please consider these books. They are the bomb!

"The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail" is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, who also coauthored the classic "Inherit the Wind." "Night" is inspired by the life and writings of Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), naturalist, political radical, and seminal American intellectual figure. The play was first performed in 1970.

"Night" takes place during a night when Thoreau was jailed for an act of civil disobedience: he refused to pay a tax in defiance of the Polk administration's Mexican War. The action of the play consists of a series of interconnected, dreamlike scenes that explore Thoreau's life, ideals, and relationships. We see his theory of education, his strong opposition to slavery, his family ties, and, quite strikingly, his problematic yet enduring relationship with fellow American philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Particularly moving is Thoreau's encounter with an escaped slave.

"Night" is a moving, even inspiring, play. Thoreau is celebrated as not merely a crucial thinker and a great man, but as a truly transcendent figure: a prophet whose voice continues to resound. Highly recommended for literature classes, reading groups, and individual readers.

Review of ¡°The night Thoreau Spent in Jail¡± Henry David Thoreau, born in Concord, Massachusetts, in early 1800¡¯s, rejected paying taxes because the U.S. government exercised its authority to the slaves, Mexicans, and pageants through the fugitives slave law, the Mexican War, and so on. The play, ¡°The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail,¡± written by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, is based on his spending one night in jail. The circumstance, a cell in the prison, allowed him to recall his past and discover himself as a pencil-maker, a school teacher, an author, a handy man, etc. Each scene implies his various talents as showing him not just as a great philosopher or a writer, but as a human being.

Thoreau had been inspired by the humanism speech of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was the Sage of Concord. In order to follow Waldo¡¯s lecture, he declared himself free, and he tried not to yield another¡¯s will. He practiced his philosophy by teaching the nature to the students, trying to distinguish himself from others, surveying living things in the meadow, and refusing the taxes to the unfair government. He was so called, a ¡°transcendentalist¡±, and he kept emphasizing ¡°BE YOUR OWN MAN!¡± His saying, ¡°The freest man in the world! And you, out there, are chained to what you have to do tomorrow morning!¡± in jail showed his position against the civilization and the world. After spending one night in jail, Thoreau eventually decided to face the real lives instead of avoiding them.

Thoreau met another prisoner, Bailey, who had waited for the chance to prove his guiltlessness and had never spoken up for himself to avoid trouble. Bailey barely understood what happened in the world or what were right things to be done. He stands for the victims, who can¡¯t get along with others and be protected by the authorities, like Henry Williams, an escapee and slave trying to get to Canada. On the other hand, Deacon Nehemiah ball, the chairman of the Concord School Committee, stuck to insisting on having an obedient attitude, taking the strict policy. He is the symbol of the power and violence.

Thoreau¡¯s brother, John, understood, supported, and ran the meadow school with Thoreau, but he died young from lockjaw. Besides John, the young lady Ellen Sewell also understood Thoreau¡¯s transcendentalism. She attended his lectures and attracted his attention. However, she didn¡¯t dare to stand up to the authority. One more woman is there, Lydian Emerson, who is Dr. Emerson¡¯s obedient wife. She, who is warm-hearted, tries to make Thoreau get in the mainstream. Despite her sympathy toward Thoreau, she maintains her position, observing the majority. Sam Stapler, the constable in Concord, has difficulties because he persuades Thoreau to pay his dues. Finally, he carries out the law and arrests Thoreau.

This play is not just for those who started to know new spirits, which are the transcendental movement and the abolition movement in the late 1800¡¯s, but for all of us who are educated, rationalized, and law-abiding in the societies, so that we can justify their own determinations. We always assimilate social conditions to be alike. We often forget thinking about what we are doing as keeping pace with others. This play is insightful enough to extend their point of view about the world and think over our attitudes toward societies. It deserves the best compliment and is recommended to read. Why don¡¯t you stop wandering around in your cage to see your outside world?

This is a great play to read before reading anything by Thoreau himself--it will help you to get a better understanding of him. Also great for Thoreau fans, or anyone who likes to read something worthwhile. This book is simply amazing, you will not regret reading it. I don't often cry when reading....but I'll admit that I did when reading this one. The authors of this play depicted Henry David Thoreau's life and philosophies so clearly yet with such an eloquent and touching manner. I loved this play 100% and I will definitely read it again!

This is the seventh novel in Robert B. Parker's Spenser series and by now it is quite clear that whenever you start one of these stories the question is what is the new twist this time around. You can never call one of these novels an unconventional Spenser novel because they all tend to be unique in some key way. in "Early Autumn" our hero is hired by Patti Giacomin to find her son Paul, kidnapped by his father. Spenser finds Paul almost immediately and it quickly becomes clear that neither parent really cares about the boy, who is just a pawn in the wake of an ugly divorce. Paul needs someone to teach him, well, just about everything (except how to shrug; the kid does that really well in response to every question asked by Spenser). "Early Autumn," a metaphor for a 15-year old kid who has to grow up really fast, finds Spenser talking more than any of the previous books, although at the end his detective skills will again come into play. A large chunk of the book is Spenser and Paul talking about a whole bunch of different topics. In doing so, Spenser explains his view of the world, a task usually left to Susan Silverman. There is also an unforgettable twist as Hawk lends a hand at a key moment. As always, Parker's novels are quick reads, perfect for commuting or nice hot baths.

This is one of my two favorite Spenser books (The other is A Savage Place.) Early Autumn was the first Parker book I ever read and also the first suspense/mystery. My parents and brothers all read Spenser but I shunned them, preferring scifi. I was desparate for a read one summer night and my mother pressed this on me, saying "You'll like this if you just give it a chance" I was 15 and I read it that night, reporting back to her bedroom and saying, "Next Book! More! More!"

This book is about Spenser's surrogate fathering of a lost 15 year old boy named Paul who is a pawn in his own life. It is sort of a coming of age novel, but really not because it is told from Spenser's perspective like all the Spenser books.

This is one of my favorite books of all time. I highly recommend it to any Spenser fan or to any one who remembers 15 and that lost in your own life feeling.

This is my first Spenser novel and my first Robert B. Parker novel. Parker's writing style is sparse, quick and fun. It's an easy read and so far, thoroughly enjoyable. Last night A&E aired Thin Air, a made for TV Spencer movie. I was going from watching spencer to reading spencer. Robert B. Parker now ranks up there with my other favorite authors, Trevanian, Conor Creggan and Donald E. Westlake. I'm glad that I discovered Parker so late as there is so many old books I can back and read!

Romanov.... that is a very powerful name... and yet, it is just a name, you were either born with it or you weren't... but for the simple fact of bearing this name, many people had to die... and yet it is just a name. It is a name that says POWER, LOVE, INTRIGUE, MYSTERY, ESCAPE, TRAGEDY.... but it is also a name that for Nicholas, Alexandra, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia and Alexei meant FAMILY, and as a family they stuck together, through illness, war, infamy, and even death.
This book tells an incredible love story, that could beat any novel out there, and proves that life is always more mysterious, magical but also more cruel than fiction. It portrays the Romanovs as a family, and gives you an insight on their lives, their thoughts, their letters, their friends and their sufferings. It also lets you take a peek at Tsarist Russia, its power, its magic, its fancies, its relations with other empires, and many other things.
Robert Massie is an expert on this subject, and you can see that a lot of research went into creating this book.
I gave it 4 stars and not 5 because it is a bit outdated when it comes to the finding and retreaval of the bodies, but this is covered in a latter book by the same author.
Highly recommended, especially is you like history.

Massie certainly deserved the author of the month in the
winter 2000 page on the romanov website.
This book is a remarkable study of the last Tsar, his
family and the Russia they ruled. It is the definite
work in that it portrays Nicholas not only as Tsar of
all the Russias , but as the father, the husband, and
the family man.All these aspects are crucial if we are
to understand the man himself and the steps he took
to command his great empire. It is an extremely fair
work, showing the Tsar's shortcomings as a ruler, but yet
at the same time his humaness, his vulnerability from
his own position.
Massie has excelled himself with this book, and I highly
recommend it to any reader seeking an introduction to
this most fascinating period of Russian history.
There have been criticisms of this book stating that Nicholas
and his reign should have been studied in the context of say, other rulers of the time. This is a granted point, but one I feel
Massie achieves in his commentary of the world spectrum on the
whole particularly in the years 1905 through to the first World
War.To isolate the "family man" from the ruler is impossible -
they were part of each other.
So congratulations to Robert Massie, this book is a very
great achievement!

This is generally considered to be the definitive biography of Tsar Nicholas II and his wife, Alexandra. Massie's expert storytelling is well-suited to the compelling story of the last Russian tsar and his consort. The history of Russia was no doubt changed by the deliberate myopia and general inadquacies of these two people. Nevertheless, Massie manages to uncover a more sympathetic side to the ill-fated duo. Massie's writing is as good as that of any acclaimed novelist - there's a fascinating and fastpaced plot, finely nuanced lead characters, an intriguing supporting cast, all against a beautiful background of a majestic bygone era.

This book was researched and written before the fall of the Soviet empire when the state archives were opened and new information about the Romanovs was revealed. Consequently, this book is necessarily incomplete, especially as concerns the execution of the royal family. Massie has since written another text called "The Romanovs: The Last Chapter" which devels deeply into the newly available data and the forensic studies that followed. Consider it an essential volume II to "Nicholas and Alexandra".