RASPUTIN: Rascal Master

square tan hardcover 8vo. (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. very fine cond. mint cond. looks new. like new. as new. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in very fine cond. as new. not worn or torn or price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings, store stamps, stickers, bookplates, no names, inking, underlining, remainder markings etc~. first edition so stated. first printing (#1 in # line). glossy full color illustrated frontis. & title pg. 208p. almost every page illustrated. "over 150 color and black & white photos & illustrations. bibliography. biography. russian history. russian revolution. religion. mysticism. conspiracy theory. ~ A highly illustrated, colorful biography of one of our most celebrated dark heros of the past. Not only does the factual, biographical content of the book make fascinating reading but the true story of this extraordinary man's life is more dramatic than fiction could ever be. The background of one of the world's most exciting periods of history is told by the author with a unique and exciting flavor, making today's political and world scene pale against the powerful Russian contemporary story in the late 19th and early 20th century. Rasputin 's life story is set against the madness of religious fervor, the complex machinations of the Russian royal family at a time when everything was at stake ~ the birth of communism, a political monster that we are today witnessing the fall of ~ the end of paganism within a society that dominated one fifth of the world's physical geography, and the witnessing of a people who were then, undergoing a complete transormation from total domination to revolutionary "freedom". With over 150 color and black and white photographs and illustrations, many of which may never have been seen, before by the reader, the full power of this "Rascal Master" is portrayed in the most evocative and dramatic styie. In the seventy years since his death, Rasputin has joined the historical culture of men like Hitler, Cesare Borgia, and Caligula in the pantheon of satanic supermen. The name Rasputin is recognized universally with a frisson of excitement and recoil; "The Mad Monk" and "Russia's greatest love machine" who brought down the Romanov dynasty in an orgy of sex and violence and dark satanic practices. In fact, Rasputin's life did consist of most of the ingredients necessary to make a popular arch~fiend: intimations of supernatural power; erotomania; religious fervor; intimacy and undue influence over the Russian royal family combined with a bizarre and mesmerizing appearance. In a great country swept by maladies and social discontent, where the people believed in the power of magic, Rasputin gained an image that was to be synonymous in the popular mind with wickedness and wild sexual and sorcerous excess, a myth that was to influence one of the most important periods of the world's history. Rasputin was a man of exceptional energy and power who retained the simplicity and strength of a Siberian peasant as he moved through every stratum of Russian society, playing four major roles to the full: Man, Mystic, Messiah and Myth.…