Books - Anastasia / Anna Anderson
Literature on Survival of the 'Last Grand Duchess' Still Convinces
The cult of Anastasia has fascinated readers for years. Books about Anna Anderson as Anastasia have filled the need for 'evidence' that the two women were one person.
Books making connections between Anna Anderson and Anastasia Romanov have been popular for decades. They seek to prove that Anastasia escaped the murder of her family in Yekaterinburg, Russia and lived a life trying to make her case to an unbelieving public. This story is tragic in several ways. For example, many people doubt that Anna Anderson was Anastasia, but what exactly happened to the woman who posed as Anastasia? If she was not Anastasia, who was she? And what made her believe that she was the Grand Duchess?
Some of the books about Anastasia as Anna Anderson use poor-quality photos, hearsay, and dubious “facts” to make their points. Others show the obvious conviction of the authors about Anna Anderson's “true” identity; this conviction is touching, but not necessarily persuasive. People want to believe, and that is exactly why authors have written books about the fate of the Romanovs and about the romance of Anastasia having escaped the Bolsheviks to take on the identity of Anna Anderson.
Few books will give concrete evidence about the true identity of Anna Anderson. Most simply serve to make the possibility of this mysterious figure having been Anastasia slightly less incredible. However, for those who hold out hope, for those who believe, or for those who want to understand the Anastasia cult, these books can give voice to Anna Anderson and her supporters.
Books about Anastasia / Anna Anderson – I Am Anastasia
This first book is no longer in print and has since been declared a fake. However, it was the first work to grab international attention about the possibility of a living Anastasia Romanov. Supposedly the account of Anastasia's escape in her own words, this book is also a very nicely executed hoax. It can still be found in used bookstores or online, and one may purchase it to corroborate the details of that story with later stories that emerged from Anna Anderson's own lips.
Books about Anastasia / Anna Anderson – Anastasia: The Riddle of Anna Anderson
By Peter Kurth. Peter Kurth was Anna Anderson's friend and confidante. He truly believed she was the Grand Duchess Anastasia, and he suffered public derision for this belief. This book is a result of his interviews with Anna Anderson. The story and the details may, in fact, be compelling. Kurth's dedication to Anna Anderson's real or imagined identity is touching, but detractors have wondered if this made him as unstable as Anna Anderson herself was thought to be.
Books about Anastasia / Anna Anderson – A Romanov Fantasy: Life at the Court of Anna Anderson
By Frances Welch. Welch attempts to unravel the complex set of coincidences that caused so much speculation about Anna Anderson's claim that she was Grand Duchess Anastasia. The interesting treatment of this subject matter is refreshing; so many other authors want the seed of doubt about Anna Anderson's psychological issues planted in readers' minds so as to benefit from their enthusiasm. While Welch is probably capitalizing on the rational readers' reactions, he nonetheless explains the question that everyone wonders: If she was not Anastasia, then why did so many people think she was?
Books about Anastasia / Anna Anderson – Anastasia: The Lost Princess
By James B. Lovell. Lovell's treatment of Anna Anderson concentrates on her life after her marriage to Jack Manahan. He takes the route of many others, trying to convince his readers that Anna Anderson and Anastasia were one and the same. Lovell seems to walk in Kurth's shoes, though his revelations made less of an impact than The Riddle of Anna Anderson, which has become a classic of the Anastasia cult.
Should you choose to read any book about Anna Anderson as Anastasia, you will find yourself either arguing against the “evidence” or being swayed by the information presented. Today, the idea that Anastasia somehow survived murder by the Bolsheviks ranks right up there with UFO sightings and Sylvia Brown's predictions for the future. You want to believe . . . but can you?
