Rasputin: The Man Behind the Myth - A Personal Memoir by Maria Rasputin and Patte Barham

Here, for the first time, is the full story of Grigori Rasputin, the controversial 'Holy Man' of Russia, as told by his daughter Maria Rasputin.

Drawing on her first-hand knowledge, stories told to her by her father himself, and by her mother and sister, a recorded account of Rasputin's life by the family servant, Dunia (Rasputin's life-long friend, later mistress, and a second mother and confidante to Maria), and information supplied by members of the Russian court of Tsar Nikolas and Tsarina Aleksandra, Maria Rasputin has created..a memorable portrait of a most remarkable man.

Grigori Rasputin was a man who was able to predict the future, including deaths, even as a small child; who was first a healer of animals, then of people; and who became a seer and seeker of mystic enlightenment because of his visions of God and the Virgin.

He was also a man who for a time lived with a sect that practiced group sex before their religious ceremonies, and from this experience evolved his belief that it was necessary to relieve the tensions of the flesh by sexual expression before beginning religious contemplation; who was almost obsessed by his love of dancing, and during part of his life, of drinking too much wine; who was careless with money and gifts; and who placed his trust in almost all of the people he met.

Rasputin lived from 1873-1916, during the Russian Revolution. Maria explains his pacifist role during those years, provides a captivating, eyewitness account of the family and intimate life of Nikolas and Aleksandra immediately before their overthrow. Maria also tells of the assassination of Rasputin, a scene of incredible violence and passion during which he was stabbed, raped, castrated, poisoned, bludgeoned, shot and finally drowned under the ice. Author Patte Barham adds in her epilogue information about a secret sect in Paris that worships Rasputin as the Christ, and of the curious relic around which their worship focuses.