History doesn't get much more interesting than the story of the Romanovs. When Tsar Nicholas II inherited the throne in 1894, he was unprepared to do so. Along with his reclusive wife Alexandra, a woman deeply entrenched in the doctrines of the Russian Orthodox Church, the imperial couple holed up in a palace outside the capital of St. Petersburg, tied to the idea of a centralized government. With their four daughters and only son, a hemophiliac, the Romanovs buried their heads in the sand, living a life of opulence as World War I raged outside their door and political unrest grew. Deftly maneuvering between the lives of the Romanovs and the plight of Russia's peasants--and their eventual uprising--Fleming offers up a compelling portrait, complete with inserts featuring period photos.