Robert K. Massie

Robert K. Massie wrote narrative history that brought political events into focus through families and individual lives. Nicholas and Alexandra: The Classic Account of the Fall of the Romanov Dynasty traces Russia’s last imperial couple, the pressures surrounding their son Alexei’s haemophilia and the collapse of the world they governed. Massie studied American history at Yale and attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar before working as a journalist. His later biography Peter the Great earned him a Pulitzer Prize. His naval histories include Dreadnought and Castles of Steel. Across these subjects, he combined extensive research with scene-based storytelling, helping general readers follow institutions and conflicts through the people caught inside them.