Lunch with Simon Sebag Montefiore (The Romanovs)

When
May 13, 2016
12:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Location
Riviera Country Club Ballroom, 1155 Blue Road, Coral Gables
Spaces left
7

Registration

Comp
Guest attending at no charge (sponsors, aides, author, etc.)
Individual Member – $50.00
IMPORTANT NOTES: 1) Fee: Please note that the $50/person event payment covers the cost of the luncheon. 2) Refunds: In the event of your cancellation or no-show, no refunds or credits will be given without three business days' prior notice from the date of the event. 3) Books will be available for purchase on-site from Books & Books.

Please note that as this is the 10th event this season, the 9th luncheon, books will not be provided to members and their guests, but they will be available for purchase on-site at the luncheon, from Books & Books, at our Prologue pricing of 20% off.

Registration is closed

The Romanovs: 1613-1918

The Romanovs were the most successful dynasty of modern times, ruling a sixth of the world's surface. How did one family turn a war-ruined principality into the world's greatest empire? And how did they lose it all?

This is the intimate story of twenty tsars and tsarinas, some touched by genius, some by madness, but all inspired by holy autocracy and imperial ambition. Montefiore's gripping chronicle reveals their secret world of unlimited power and ruthless empire-building, overshadowed by palace conspiracy, family rivalries, sexual decadence and wild extravagance, and peopled by a cast of adventurers, courtesans, revolutionaries and poets, from Ivan the Terrible to Tolstoy, from Queen Victoria to Lenin.

To rule Russia was both imperial-sacred mission and poisoned chalice: six tsars were murdered and all the Romanovs lived under constant threat to their lives. Peter the Great tortured his own son to death while making Russia an empire, and dominated his court with a dining club notable for compulsory drunkenness, naked dwarfs and fancy dress. Catherine the Great overthrew her own husband - who was murdered soon afterwards - loved her young male favourites, conquered Ukraine and fascinated Europe. Paul was strangled by courtiers backed by his own son, Alexander I, who faced Napoleon's invasion and the burning of Moscow, then went on to take Paris. Alexander II liberated the serfs, survived five assassination attempts, and wrote perhaps the most explicit love letters ever written by a ruler. THE ROMANOVS climaxes with a fresh, unforgettable portrayal of Nicholas and Alexandra, the rise and murder of Rasputin, war and revolution - and the harrowing massacre of the entire family.

Written with dazzling literary flair, drawing on new archival research, THE ROMANOVS is at once an enthralling story of triumph and tragedy, love and death, a universal study of power, and an essential portrait of the empire that still defines Russia today.

~ The Orion Publishing Group

Miami, Florida USA