Douglas Smith | Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs (4.25.2017)

The Ellison Center at the University of Washington

A hundred years after his murder, Rasputin continues to excite the popular imagination as the personification of evil. Numerous biographies, novels, and films recount his mysterious rise to power as Nicholas and Alexandra's confidant and the guardian of the sickly heir to the Russian throne. But as the prizewinning historian Douglas Smith shows, the true story of Rasputin's life and death has remained shrouded in myth. In this lecture, Smith separates fact from fiction, drawing on his extensive archival research. In his book, "Rasputin: Faith, Power, and the Twilight of the Romanovs," Smith presents Rasputin in all his complexity — man of God, voice of peace, loyal subject, adulterer, drunkard.