Table of Contents
Before You Begin vii
Russia, 1903 1
Beyond the Palace Gates: Peasant Turned Worker 11
Part 1 Before the Storm
Chapter 1 "I Dreamed That I Was Loved" 17
Beyond the Palace Gates: A Peasant Boyhood 23
Chapter 2 "What a Disappointment!" 35
Beyond the Palace Gates: Lullabies for Peasant Babies 40
Chapter 3 "A Small Family Circle" 45
Beyond the Palace Gates: Another Family Circle 48
Part 2 Dark Clouds Gathering
Chapter 4 The Year of Nightmares 59
Chapter 5 Lenin, the Duma, and a Mystic Named Rasputin 68
Beyond the Palace Gates: House No. 13 71
Chapter 6 "Pig and Filth" and Family Fun 88
Beyond the Palace Gates: An Occupation for Workers' Daughters 96
Chapter 7 Gathering Clouds 100
Chapter 8 Three Centuries of Romanovs 113
Beyond the Palace Gates: A Different Kind of Education for a Different Kind of Boy 120
Part 3 The Storm Breaks
Chapter 9 "My God! My God! What Madness!" 125
Chapter 10 In Defense of Mother Russia 133
Beyond the Palace Gates: Vasily's Diary 135
Chapter 11 "The Reign of Rasputin" 146
Chapter 12 It All Comes Tumbling Down 156
Beyond the Palace Gates: Molecule in a Storm 168
Chapter 13 "Ye Tyrants Quake, Your Day Is Over" 170
Beyond the Palace Gates: "Ye Tyrants Quake, Your Day Is Over" 177
Part 4 Final Days
Chapter 14 "Survivors of a Shipwreck" 181
Beyond the Palace Gates: The "Tsar's Surprise Party" 192
Chapter 15 Into Siberia 196
Beyond the Palace Gates: Swarming the Palace 202
Chapter 16 The House of Special Purpose 215
Chapter 17 Deadly Intent 227
Chapter 18 "The World Will Never Know What Has Become of Them" 241
Beyond the Palace Gates: Life Under Lenin 247
Acknowledgments 255
Bibliography 256
The Romanovs Online 266
Notes 267
Index 288