A review by msgtdameron
Former People: The Final Days of the Russian Aristocracy, by Douglas Smith

4.0

This is an excellent history/biography of the Russian Aristocracy from WWI through the end of WWII. It's part biography in that it follows two family's, the Shermatoves and Golystins. It's history as weaving the families lives through all the political upheaval of the Revolution, Civil War, NEP, the various show trials of the early thirties, the Terror of the purges, and The Great Patriotic War. This is also an excellent follow up volume if you have read The Romanov's by Simon Sebag Montefiore.

Former people is a great read to get the Russian Aristocracy from the death of the Tsar to the end of the WWII.