The Oak and The Larch

Russia has more trees than there are stars in our galaxy, and the forest lies at the heart of this vast nation's history and culture.

The Oak and the Larchtells the story of the northern Eurasian forests which have, over the centuries, been part of the territories of Chinggis Khan's Golden Horde, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union and now the Russian Federation, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, and Mongolia. Ranging from the medieval era to the present, Pinkham draws on literature - from indigenous legends to canonical works by Tolstoy and Turgenev - as well as political history, art, music, and original reportage. As she traces the forest's role as a wellspring of national identity, a place of shelter, conflict and survival against the odds, Pinkham also shows the threats facing the forests - and what we stand to lose when nature is depleted.