In this book, Virginia Cowles tells the history of Russia. From the despotic Nicholas I to his fumbling great-grandson, Nicholas II, the fantastic drama intrigue and violence was played out against a background of dynastic ties and feuds... those fatal relationships among Europe"s ruling families which Virginia Cowles knows so well and writes about so brilliantly. As she retraces the plots and counterplots, assassinations and betrayals, she makes shockingly clear how subversion abroad and terrorist activities at home stimulated and fed on one another. And her cast of characters -- bizarre, passionate, ruthless, dedicated -- act out the drives of human aspiration and human frailty on a world-shaking scale. (from dust cover flap 1969)