Nathan Gelgud illustration inspired by Michael Farquhar’s 'Secret Lives of the Tsars,' 2014.

One day, Ivan the Terrible -- living up to his name -- conked his son on the head and killed him. So when Ivan died three years later, he had no immediate successor. This preceded the sharp decline of the first Imperial Dynasty of Russia. The second family of rulers, the House of Romanov, took over a few years later. Three centuries of bloody folly and nonstop scandal followed.

Michael Farquhar’s Secret Lives of the Tsars breaks down 300 years of Russian history into a procession of kooks and sadists. He begins with animals hurtling through the air and ends with the dark, mystical powers of Rasputin, offering a juicy, intentionally trashy chronicle of the era. Farquhar, a former writer and editor for the Washington Post, has a thing for this kind of material, as evidenced by the titles of his other bestsellers: A Treasury of Royal Scandals, A Treasury of Great American Scandals, and A Treasury of Deception.

Secret Lives gives readers a look at Peter the Great’s debauchery and predilection toward beheadings, along with Catherine II’s sex life. Farquhar works chronologically, using anecdotes and accessible historical context to paint a picture of each generation, saving the best for last. Or the worst -- it’s probably no mistake that the monarchy was abolished after the rule of Nicholas II.

The friendship that Nicholas’s wife, Alexandra, struck up with Rasputin makes for what must be one of the strangest aspects of Russian history. Alexandra called on Rasputin, a peasant mystic, to save her hemophiliac son, who was sustaining life-threatening injuries and suffering internal bleeding. Insinuating himself into the royal family as a faith healer, Rasputin became no less than private adviser to the House of Romanov, perhaps even influencing Russian involvement in World War I. Farquhar’s detailed account of the relationship between Alexandra and Rasputin is engaging and surprisingly sympathetic. Her son’s life was in danger, and doctors were no help, but Rasputin appeared to inspire healing in the boy. This innocent faith in a mystic, which led to the royal house getting mixed up with the black arts, explains some of the wildest turns in history. These rulers, fools, madmen, and emperors are all just people. It’s a wonder that more heads of state don’t have consultants who practice some form of sorcery -- that we know of, anyway.

Nathan Gelgud illustration inspired by Michael Farquhar’s 'Secret Lives of the Tsars,' 2014.