At the close of the nineteenth century, Russia -- soon to be called the Soviet Union -- was a monarchy ruled absolutely by the omnipotent Czar, Nicholas II. His reign was a time of pomp and circumstance, with the extravagant and often graceful life style of the aristocrats, and -- among the peasants -- political unrest, extreme poverty, and recurring famine. Kyril Fitzlyon and Tatiana Browning have collaborated on a marvelous pictorial documentary volume evoking this past, Czarist Russia before it disappeared forever in The Revolution. Rare, never-before [seen] photographs depict the home life of the Imperial family; but the brutal impoverished everyday life of the peasant is powerfully here as well, as a poignant and stirring counterpoint to aristocratic realities and pretensions. "Before the Revolution" is that too-infrequent visual book that makes a statement while being a cultural memoir: a deeply researched text documents the historical and societal aspects which the photographs brilliant and indelibly record -- the dramatic background of Mother Russia under Nicholas II. Readers will be able to construct a portrait of the way things were and will never be again. -- From publisher's description.