Reddit reviews Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia

I researched what books to read about Russia before traveling here and this was the most often recommended:

Land of the Firebird

So glad I read it, amazing book. It covers mostly the cultural history, but in doing so makes a very good summary of Russia's history as a whole up to 1917.

It's been very eye-opening discovering the history of Russia and Slavic people. You begin to realize there is another parallel European culture with it's own rich traditions of music, literature, folk lore and superstitions, most of which has been hidden from the West only because of politics. Without the Russian Revolution I believe we would know the stories of Pushkin and music of Rimsky-Korsakov as well as we know the Brothers Grimm and Beethoven.