Publisher's Synopsis
1920. Saltus, author of numerous histories and novels, had a predilection for unrestrained pessimism, radical style, and vicious wit, which earned him the friendship of contemporary writers such as Oscar Wilde and Henry Miller. For The Imperial Orgy, the last book published before his death, Saltus found another nation as steeped in murder and debauchery as Rome: Imperial Russia. Using these mad rulers as a subject, Saltus could easily display his genius for gruesome detail, and the excessiveness of the imagery surpasses even that of his most famous book, Imperial Purple. Beginning with Ivan the Terrible, Saltus chronicles his terrifying reign. Every ruler he documents is a cruel despot, and they are distinguishable from each other only by the particular inventiveness of their cruelties. Contents: Ivan the Terrible; Dmitri the Sorcerer; Peter the Great; Imperial Sables; The Northern Messalina; Venus Victrix; Paul; The Last Despot; King Terror; and The Whirlwind. See other titles by this author available from Kessinger Publishing.
