Review: Ivan the Terrible

I recently completed Ivan the Terrible by Robert Payne and Nikita Romanoff. Here's the Amazon description:

Czar Ivan IV (1530-1584), the first Russian ruler to take the title czar, is known as one of the worst tyrants in history, but few people among the general public know how he got such an infamous reputation. Relying on extensive research based heavily on original Russian sources, this definitive biography depicts an incredibly complex man living in a time of simple, harsh realities. Robert Payne, the distinguished author of many historical and biographical works, and Russian scholar Nikita Romanoff, describe in vivid and lively detail Ivan's callous upbringing; the poisoning of his second wife and the murder of his son; his obsession with religion and sin; his predilection for mass murder, evidenced by his massacre of 30,000 citizens of Novgorod; yet his remarkable intelligence as a ruler, supporting the growth of trade and expanding Russia's borders.

 Amazon describes Payne as a "distinguished historian" who has also written about Lenin and Stalin. Romanoff is the grandnephew of Nicholas II and is described as a "world renowned scholar of Russian history."

Going into this book, I knew very little about Ivan other than what I could infer from the title "the Terrible" and a little bit from the coverage of that time period in Russka, which is historical fiction, so this book was pretty eye opening. The book ends with the last line "not until our own time did anyone arise who could be compared with him," which I assume is a reference to Hitler and Stalin and the like. The book declines to offer a total of the number of people he and his Oprichnina murdered, but it was clearly many - it does suggest some individual massacres killed as many as tens of thousands.

This book does do a great job of using primary sources - there is an extensive bibliography at the back of the book, and the authors quote extensively from Ivan and others in the text, which is interesting. They clearly did their research for this book.

Public domain image of Ivan the Terrible.
Portrait by Viktor Mikhailovich Vasnetsov.

What I found less impressive was the analysis of Ivan's motives. They definitely do offer one, clearly suggesting it was an issue of mental health and paranoia. However, I think this could have been developed further. I really enjoy this type of analysis and have seen it done well in other books, such as The Road to Jonestown, Hitler Ascent, and Marina and Lee. I feel it was a bit of a missed opportunity here.

I also did not feel like I really could imagine Ivan as he was. Usually I leave a biography feeling I can imagine the person as they were, and perhaps identify with them a bit and understand why they took the actions that they did. A good biography helps me feel I have gotten "inside" the mind of the subject; I didn't get that feeling here.

I did find the discussion of the end of Ivan's life interesting, as they did a good job of conveying the changes in his personality and behavior. They also include many images, including sketches and portraits, which adds a lot to the reading experience. I was also glad to see that they balanced the discussion of the terrible things he did with the other things he did; his religiosity, his building projects and so on. I also appreciated that they did a good job of explaining the role his religiosity played in his actions - they argue that he clearly believed he could reconcile his religious beliefs with his mass murders and that his intense piety seemed to be genuine, which was interesting.

Overall this was an interesting and enlightening biography, and I ended up giving it a 3 star rating on Goodreads. However, it took a while for me to become invested in his story, and it was not the most engaging biography I have read. I think the writing style contributed; it took a while for it to grab my attention. Ivan himself seems like an interesting figure, and I may check out another biography or two on him in the future.