The Romanovs?the second and final dynasty to rule Russia?have captured the imagination of the world like no other royal family. The mysterious execution of Tsar Nicholas II and his immediate family in 1918 further fueled this fascination. Yet the intrigue surrounding the family began centuries earlier with another notorious tsar?Ivan the Terrible. So-called due to his dramatic change in temperament following the death of his wife, Ivan instigated one of the most terrifying periods in history as he and his death squad Oprichniki violently tortured his country's people. Tracing the ancestry back to the marriage of Anastasia Zakharyina and Ivan IV of Muscovy in 1547, through the demise of the House of Romanov and up to the present generation, Oliver Thomson delves deep into the family?s lineage. Including maps, portraits of family members, and stunning color photographs of the main surviving Romanov buildings, this absorbing book charts the rise and fall of one of the greatest families in history.