Hi Greg,
I totally agree with you; Rasputin needs a new biography.
I thought of him years ago when I came across an article in a New England journal (YANKEE? COUNTRY LIFE?), in the 1970's. I tried looking it up quickly, recently and couldn't find it, although I could, probably, if I did a serious search on it...
Anyway, it was a fascinating article on a group of truck drivers in Vermont/New Hampshire area that call themselves something like 'bleeders'.
What they do is this: They are regular guys who drive trucks. But they are very devout in their religious beliefs. They all discovered early on that they can stop the uncontrolled bleeding in someone through thought/prayer.
That sounds mysterious and strange enough to most people (although I totally accepted the premise). But what was even stranger was that they would be driving along the highway and they would get a call on their CB radios, I think they were called back then (days before cell phones; the 1970's).
After getting the message to call someone, say at a hospital, they would pull alongside a phone booth at a rest stop and make the call: it was usually to a hospital, from a frantic person whose loved one was in an accident.
Then the driver would pray on the phone...and would say something like, "The bleeding has stopped; you don't have to worry anymore". And the bleeding had, indeed stopped.
After I read it, I thought immediately of Rasputin. Also, if I were a parent of a hemoraging son or daughter and someone stopped the bleeding through prayer, I would TOTALLY believe in that person as a Wonder-Healer.
I completely understand Alexandra's mind/heart. And I understand (and admire) the psyche of Rasputin.
--Adele
