This is a print on demand publication. Alexander Ivanovich Guchkov (1862-1936) was one of the most engaging public personalities in the last years of the Russian Empire. This political biography of Guchkov, whose career in the national limelight -- in the legislature (the State Duma), in the war-industries committees during World War I, & in 1917 in the Provisional Government -- was central to the story of the collapse of the old order. Contents of this study of Guchkov: The Family Background: 1862-1904; the Making of a Politician: 1905-1907; Politics by Usual Means: 1907-1914; Politics by Unusual Means: 1914-1917; Revolution & Exile: 1917-1936; Conclusion; & Bibliography.