Anastasia: the Last Grand Duchess, Russia, 1914

For anyone at all familiar with the origins of Communism, the events surrounding the Tsar's family are already familiar. This is another of the books where you know beforehand that the young girl the book is about is going to meet a sad end.

The book is pretty much like other royal diaries in keeping track of the kinds of things the girl is doing, but it also keeps track of the discontent with Tsarist rule in Russia and the abdication of the Tsar.

Anastasia herself comes across as a decent, normal sort of young girl, a girl who was basically a helpless pawn in a movement that brought total change to Russia. The historical section/epilogue does bring out the fact that she was brutally murdered by the men who were involved in the revolt, showing just how savage the revolutionaries were. It's not a happy book, but it covers an important event in world history.

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