Land of the Firebird: The Beauty of Old Russia

by Suzanne Massie

Land of the Firebird is a WONDERFUL and ENGAGING in-depth look of Russian history from 987-1917, spanning the ascension of Vlad and the Orthodox Church to right before the Revolution. With colorful prose Suzanne Massie details the variety of Russian existence--tsars and serfs and merchant-princes and babushkas--no stone is left uncovered as she cross-references nearly a thousands years, writing with equal consideration of art, poetry, country-life, court-life, politics and its myriad games, myths and legends, influence "outside the sphere."

Genres: History, Russia, Nonfiction, Russian History, Art, Travel, Historical

493 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Suzanne Massie was an American scholar of Russian history who played an important role in the relations between Ronald Reagan and the Soviet Union in the final years of the Cold War. She was granted Russian citizenship in December 2021.

Reviews

[Dem · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so tempted to borrow my Goodreads Friend Debbie’s Pogo Stick for a little jump around after finishing this book (but was afraid she might notice it was missing) 😂 😂
This was such a fascinating and informative read and a book that I will treasure.

Land of the Firebird is a WONDERFUL and ENGAGING in-depth look at Russian cultural history from 987-1917, spanning the ascension of Vlad and the Orthodox Church to right before the Revolution.

I have had this on my to read list for a few years but could not find a copy in any book shops. I probably could have sourced a library copy but really wanted to have my own copy. I had checked used bookstores in Ireland to no avail and finally purchased a second hand copy on Amazon. When I received the book it had La Grange Public Libray 10 West Cossitt, La Grange Illinois stamped on it and the word WITHDRAWN. This actually made the book more special for me as I loved the idea that numerous people had thumbed through its well worn pages with a love of Russian History like myself.

The book was so worth waiting for as its detailed history of a now-vanished culture of Pre-Revolutionary Russia. It’s anything but a dry history as the writing style is engaging and descriptive.
It is so well researched and packed full of information and history.

Having read several of the author’s husband’s books ( Robert K. Massie ) such as Catherine the Great: Portrait of a Woman. Nicholas and Alexandra
Peter the Great: His Life and World and The Romanovs: The Final Chapter I really was excited to read this and while I was familiar Russian History this was a rich and captivating testimony to the heritage of old Russia.

The book was first published in 1980 and I believe that Ronald Reagan read it during his term in office in order to get a better understanding of the culture and history of Russia.
Well now I have completed it as well and loved it, It’s an easy read if you have an interest in Russian History. The opening chapter takes us back to 987 and Prince Vladimir and the construction of the great palaces of Kiev to the rise of Moscow and the building of the Kremlin. She details wonderful accounts of Ivan The Terrible, Tsar Peter The Great who built the city of St Petersburg in his own honour and Catherine The Great right up to the 19th century and the era of Pushkin, Dostoevsky, and onto the explosion of the avant-grade movement.

The book has numerous pages of photographs which was really an added bonus.

This is a book that I will happily make place for on my real life bookshelf. It will also have a well deserved place on my Goodreads favourites shelf and also my 5 star reads. I have no doubt that I will take it down again and re-read it in the future.. While this well worn but in excellent condition Library book may have passed through many hands it has now found its forever home.

[Kalliope · Rating 4 out of 5]

…they were not ordinary feathers, but magic ones that only those who loved beauty and who sought to make beauty for others could see and admire.

This is the end of the Legend of the Firebird as narrated by Suzanne Massie in the Preface to her wonderful account.

I pulled this book out of my shelves a few days ago, where it had been sleeping for a couple of years. Another Sleeping Beauty. I do not remember on what kind of recommendation it made its way to my home. Only after I had begun reading did I realize that Suzanne had to be the wife of Robert Massie, whose Nicholas and Alexandra & The Romanovs: The Final Chapter I had read not too long ago and greatly enjoyed. My copy of is the 2002 reedition of the original from 1980. In wiki, I read that Suzanne’s book was a bestseller when it first appeared and prompted her being included in the diplomatic circles under Ronald Reagan, that is at a high point of the Cold War years between the US and the URSS. She was called in to help bring about an end to that conflict.

This is a perfect introduction to the history, Culture (high arts) and culture (the fabric of the way the people live and their customs) of Russia in all its extension. From here one’s reading path can take many directions but after finishing this I felt I was equipped with a perfect sleigh if I wanted to le myself along promising textual, musical and pictorial venues.



The account begins in Kiev with Prince Vladimir’s conversion to the Orthodox religion in 987. And that conversion already sounds like a fairy tale. This historical prince (who makes it way into fictional accounts like Pushkin’s Ruslan and Ludmila), received four emissaries, each one extolling the attraction of their religion: Islam, Western Christianity, Judaism and the Orthodox Christians. The latter convinced Vladimir that Orthodoxy offered the greatest spiritual values. Everything took off from there then.

Suzanne’s book seemed very complete and well rounded. After Kiev, the story moves to Moscow and to St Petersburg as it traces the first Tsars and the Romanov line. Due emphasis is given to the two ‘Greats’ (Peter and Catherine) I read Troyat's accounts Pierre Le Grand & La grande Caterina a few years ago but I found the aesthete and frivolous Elizabeth very engaging too. The later Emperors are just brushed over and so the fairy tale aspect of the earlier tsars gradually thaws. So much that she then shifts the attention from Empire to the Culture & culture.

Any cultural account has to begin with Pushkin. He is the father of it all. Or maybe, he and religion with the astounding wooden churches and resilient icons. But if religion provided the stability, Pushkin gave the signal to start: obviously to literature but also to music and painting. In literature one cannot help but wonder where does the magic for the overwhelming explosion of creativity reside: it must be the language. Inevitably, I feel the wish to enter that world.



Suzanne devotes several sections and also complete chapters to the everyday life examining elements such as: the luring presence of snow; the architecture (with its needed reliance on wood); cooking and eating preferences; flowers and fruits in the gardens and forests; the flowing and encircling presence of water; the inevitability of bedazzling uniforms with condemning duels; the liturgical cycle as it embraces the year cycle with its seasons, and the festivities with music (high and low); publishing activities and editorial enterprises that have to go hand in hand with the explosion in literature; the non-arbitrary power of gambling Catherine II founded the huge Foundling Hospital with the tax on the sale of playing-cards ; the relationship between city and country and the complexities of the serfs dilemma; the development of the merchant class and the relationship between the gentry and the artisans, and that of the nobility and the peasants; the development of cultural institutions with the string of magnificent academies, universities, conservatories, museums and private collections.




Anyway, this book presents a cornucopia or a Matryoshka of themes within themes. But Suzanne also draws constants and the two most recurring ones are the ongoing conflict between the drives towards a Western or an Eastern pole and the idea that all Russians are Picassos – meaning that Russians were quick in picking up ideas from elsewhere but quicker still in developing them into their own idiom and giving them greater and unsuspected directions.

The account ends, almost, where it began, with the Firebird. But a transformed and modernised one: Stravinsky’s, of course.

[Renata · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re a serious “student” of history and culture, this book is not for you. But if you are looking for a concise, but well-done summary of Russian culture, you can’t go wrong. It’s easy reading, which focuses on the cultural rather than political aspects of Russian history. Also interesting that apparently this book was read by Ronald Reagan and this author is the one to give him “trust but verify” tid bit for his meeting with Gorbachev.

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A light, romanticized celebration of Russian culture. I welcome the attempt to foster humane, cosmopolitan sympathies.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I don't enjoy history unless it's somebody's story and that's the beauty of this book! It's a history of Russia from the first Kievan Prince to Nicholas II through the stories of its tsars. In addition, it details the accomplishments in art, literature, and music under the reign of each tsar. It's a bit slow in parts but never tedious. It is quite long though. I learned so much from it--chiefly how much the Russian people have suffered under ever single tsar they've had (and sadly, they fared no better under the Soviets). But also interesting random facts--like why amber can be found all over the place in the former Soviet Union. Apparently, it was once believed that amber pieces were the fossilized tears that had fallen on the graves of fallen soldiers (and there have been so many fallen Russian soldiers). It's really a fascinating book.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully written and pictured history of pre-revountionary Russia. It makes you aware of Russia's rich culture and heritage of art along with the stories of its royalty. Very inspiring

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Land of The Firebird". Suzanne Massie. 1980. "Land of the Firebird" is lyrical, exuberant, lush in it's breadth and beauty. Massie guides the reader through a cultural exploration of what she refers to as "Old Russia". -the Russia that existed before the 1917 revolution. She introduces the great painters, poets, composers and writers of Russia, but clearly it is the folk culture of the peasantry that Massie is most drawn to. Massie published her book at a time when the Soviet Union was powerful, enigmatic and rightfully feared. Her book at times, seems to be written with the sole purpose of counterbalancing the brutal images cast by the events of Russia's post-revolution history. Like Suzanne Massie herself, the people of 'Old Russia' appear nurturing, warm, generous and creative. Unlike many historians, Massie finds no difficultly in finding great beauty and warmth in a land beleaguered by harshness and cruelty.

[Chambermusic79 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Suzanne Massie's book is disappointing. Its main quality is that it is easy to read and quite informative: Massie indulges in picturesque descriptions, often extracted from 19th-century travel accounts; she can get quite lyrical and enraptured. Yet, her love for Old Russia ends up in a rosy ethnographic report that doesn't take into account the complexity of Russian history. Artists and historical characters are flat and reduced to anecdotes, ideas turn into slogans, and in general everything is nostalgically beautiful. There is nothing wrong with the book, if it meant to be a bird's eye overview of "exotic" Old Russia; but as a cultural analysis of pre-revolutionary Russia, it is rather shallow and out of focus. Maybe the fact that it was written in Soviet times for the American general reader, collecting a series of museum lectures, explains such attitude.

[Nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautifully written book. Russia is an enchanted and ancient land. It also started in Kiev ;) . This writer is obviously a lib though based on how she wrote about Catherine’s long conversion to conservatism. It’s also clear that Russia’s tsars staved off many of the shitty liberal artistic movements from the West for a long time. In the end though after 1900, cubism, Planism, serenism, exacerbism, omnipotism, and literal “Nothingism”. Wild how these movements coincided directly with revolutionary ideas and the eventual overthrow of the Tsar by commies! No way there’s a correlation at all! Zero mention of that by the author of course lol. Forreal though, incredible book that gave me great fondness for Russia.

[Jillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Russian cultural history book that focuses on Russian art and literature from medieval times to 1917. A great read for any avid lover of Russian art, music, or literature.

[Christy J-Furem · Rating 5 out of 5]

One beautiful brick of a book.

[Liora Grünwald · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5

A few things of note to keep in mind when approaching this book. The first is that this book was published in 1980 which was eleven years before the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. So any information regarding that will not be added into the book. In fact, a lot of the side notes in the books will compare and contrast what old Russia is to the "current" Russia which references the Russia of 1980 and a few years before when the Soviet Union is still in place. So, in that regard, some of the information is outdated however if you know this going into it as I did it's truely a fascinating look into what the Russia of the Soviet Era looked like towards its end. However, the actual information of the book other than the few notes I mentioned only goes to right before the Russian revolution of 1917 as that is when the era of "old Russia" ends with the abolition of the monarchy. So, if that's also what you are looking for you'll have to find extra sources on that outside of this book. Also this book tends to be more of a cultural study of Russia with a sweeping overview of events rather than a full blown history text so if you are a more serious student this may not be for you but if you are a beginner to Russian history I'd say this is a perfect place to start. The last thing I'll mention before going into this, is to keep in mind that this book is written with a very rose tinted view of events. Suzanne Massie wrote this during a tumultuous time between the United States and the Soviet Union as the Cold War was still in full effect and Massies intention was to show the American public a different face to their Soviet enemies and that they aren't these invisible boogy men that the red scare necessarily made them out to be. As she says in her introduction:

"Nations, like individuals, have the right to be judged not only on their faults and failings, but also on their achievements and glories."

It was so effective that President Reagan himself invited her to The White House to be a messenger between himself and President Mikhail Gorbachev of the Soviet Union. Thanks to her Reagan was able to gain a deeper understanding of Russian culture and people and her advice to him through the Russian proverb "Trust, but verify." assisted in peace talks between the two nations. It also gained her praise on the Russian end of things as she was awarded Russian citizenship in 2021. So, it would be wise to keep in mind that their may be some glossing over more tumultuous events in Russian history but I'd say overall this isn't a massive issue. Just something to keep in the back of your mind.

The Land of the Firebird is a non fiction book with a sweeping overview of Russian culture and history wrapped in a fairy tale like prose. Massie begins her book with the story of the Firebird, a Russian folk story, that beautifully represents the actual events of the rising of one of the world's greatest super powers. She almost effortlessly weaves history together like a fantasy giving the Russian people a breath of life that is enchanting, exotic, and absolutely fascinating from a western perspective. We start all the way back in 987 with one of the first major rulers who would influence Russia's future Prince Vladimir of Kiev all the way through to the last Tsar Nicholas II right before the revolution of 1917. Between these two rulers Massie shows us many astonishing events and feats of Russian ingenuity. We see such wonders as the building and founding of Kiev, Moscow, and St. Petersburg. We see the art world flourish with wonders new ideals of the Russians who studied their western European counterparts and used it to make some entirely more spectacular and very Russian in itself. We see how literary genius such as Pushkin, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Gogol, and many more influence not just the ideals of the Russian people but the world in itself with the stroke of a pen and how their lives played out in both beauty and tragedy. We are allowed to gaze at the beauty of Russian manufacturing of silks, pearls, jewelry, and even a crown with over 5,000 diamonds created for Catherine The Great herself. The rise of the ballet and music that Russia lead the world in and still does to this day is also described in beautiful and vivid detail. We also get a unique glimpse into peasant life with its rich folk tales, dances, religious outlooks, and beauty that could even put it's nobels and rich merchant princes to shame.

With all that beauty we also are witnesses to horrors such as the near genocide of the Russian people by the Mongolian invaders lead by Genghis Khan and his sons and grandsons that wiped out nearly 2/3 of the population approximately and this is greatly described in this quote from "The Lay of Igor":

"The black earth under the hooves was strewn with bones, was covered in blood. Grief overwhelmed the Russian land."

The sorrow of this along with the calls for help to the western nations that only were met with silence sealed the Russian fate and was the first step in keeping itself distanced from the west forever. The betrayal was felt deeply and took hundreds of years to recover what they had lost. We also see many other tragedies like the murder committed by Ivan the Terrible against his son, the time of troubles, the glorious rise of great and tyrannical leaders and their repeated falls from grace, assassinations, or tragic deaths, and much more.

I wanted to read this book because I am a massive fan of Russian literature and as much as I loved it, I didn't understand a lot of cultural references, important time period events, or political ideologies that were heavy influences on some of my favourite stories and I can honestly say I got exactly what I wanted out of this and more. The parts about the Russian war with Napoleon and the events surrounding Dostoevskys life were especially detailed and helpful to give me a deeper understanding of the context of their novels. It's also inspired me to pick up more Russian non fiction about the later events during the revolution and during the era of the Soviet Union. It was also interesting to see maybe what some of my Jewish ancestors may have witnessed in their lifetimes while living in Russia. Half of my Jewish family comes from Russia before the progroms in the early 20th century and while they have very separate lives than the ethnic Russians it's interesting to think about what went on around them.

My only gripe with the book was it tended to be a bit long winded and repetitive. I can only handle the eighteen page descriptions of church buildings and clothing and jewelry so many times before I start to get a bit bored. I loved it at first but when the same themes started appearing over and over again it started to feel more like filler and less informative. Although, in contrast, I could read Massie describing food all day long! She made the most odd foods sound like the most delicious things I had ever read on page. I always got so hungry after her descriptions of the restaurant and tea house sections of the book or what she described was eaten at festivals.

All in all, a great book and I highly recommend to those interested in Russian cultural history.

I also saw that Suzanne Massie passed away within a few days before I started reading this book.

יהי זכרם ברוך.

May her memory be a blessing to all her loved ones.

[Virginia Russell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never liked studying history when I was in school. I have spent the majority of my life reading business books, books about women, self help and spiritual books. I got interested in history, particularly Russian history, through someone who ran a literary group and assigned the new BBC production of War and Peace. I watched it and loved it and that started my interest in Russian history. I really enjoyed this book because it informed me about the rich culture that was old Russia and almost made me want to live in those times. The book gave me a taste of the Tzars who ruled Russia and has inspired me to read further so I purchased Peter the Great, Katharine the Great and Nicolas and Alexandra and now I really have my work cut out for me because each is about a 2 inch book:)

[Drew Bohannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

A rare pleasure. Seldom have I had such intense joy and delight in reading a history book. Massie’s Land of the Firebird takes the reader dashing through the snows of Russia from its conversion to Christianity in the early 900s up to its lamentable decline with the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917. The focus of this book is on how Russians imbibed foreign artistic styles from the West and made them truly Russian, expressive and incredible. From architecture to sculpture, from cooking to painting, this book traces and elaborates on the inherent beauty of the Russian landscape and its peoples. A truly enchanting read!

[Sherilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Land of the Firebird is perhaps the greatest book ever written on pre revolutionary russia's now vanished culture. Beginning in 987 with the adoption of Eatern Christianity in Russia, Massie tells of the construction of the great cathedrals and palaces of Kiev and their destruction by the Mongols,and of the rise of Moscow and the Kremlin. She discusses the first and the greatest of the Romanovs and the the flowering of Russian culture in the 19th century. If you love Russia, and all things Russian, this is THE book to read.

[Emily Howard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was my textbook in my first Russian (history) class ever, and it is, without a doubt, part of the reason that I continued to pursue Russian as a field of study. A wonderful and engaging story of Russian history with a peppering of folktales and beautiful imagery.

[Jake · Rating 5 out of 5]

Categorically beautiful writing, almost like a fairytale. Loved every page.

[Mary Dalton · Rating 5 out of 5]

I never imagined I would enjoy reading this book as much as I did. I've always been drawn to Russian culture (culture prior to the Revolution, that is), and LAND OF THE FIREBIRD confirmed why for me. This is a sweeping overview of Russia's history, starting with the Middle Ages and touching upon the influences of people like Peter the Great, the Empresses Elizabeth and Catherine, the creation of cities like Saint Petersburg, the richness of life in the country (the author does not take the view that peasant life was uniformly bleak or colorless), and the role of religion in life and art. By the time Massie reaches the final chapters on the development of The World of Art group (headed by Diaghilev and including individuals like Fokine, Stravinsky, and Bakst), you understand how such a group came to be -- the source was Russia itself, in all its complexity and color.

Massie doesn't write like an academic -- her writing isn't dry or emotionally-removed, but impassioned and lyrical, which I liked. I read the book over the winter and loved being immersed in the topic.

[Matthew Dalton · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been reading this for my Russian Civilization course. I love my city college. I should've done this from the get-go. To share my city college with Octavia Butler and Charles Manson? How lucky am I!

This book was half so, so, so interesting, and half absolutely dull. The amount of talk of architecture, I mean there had to have been more interesting topics to dive into during Elizabeth's reign than Elizabethan rococo. But I learned a lot, so I'm conflicted. I'm happy, because I learned! And I am sad because it was a rather superficial and rudimentary overview of Russia's history. But on that thought, this course was supposed to be modern civilization, yet we read this book as the main text......only text really.....

It was cool overall. Highly outdated. But I felt purposeful while picking it up, even if my eyes were crossing as the author described the development of Petersburg's architecture for the fourth time.

[Sue de Nijm · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book should be seen more as an introduction to the idea of Russia and the Russians than as a comprehensive overview of Russian history—that it was written and published during the Cold War for a wide audience must be considered. It's a little light on the details even for the broad period it covers, but for those little familiar with pre-revolutionary Russia, it accomplishes its task. Massie's book does touch on Russia's political history at times, but it primarily highlights the achievements of the Russian people in particular as poets and composers and works to disspell a particular image of them still made relevant by vaguely Slavic movie villains and recent political events.

I wouldn't recommend this book to someone as a serious and unbiased introduction into Russian history, but to get to know the Russians as a people, it isn't a terrible starting point.

[Diane Baima · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book definitely seems to be have been written at a certain time and for a certain reason. The author idealizes the history of Russia up until the 1917 Revolution. While much of this information is true, it seems that the author is trying to convince English speakers to give Russia, and its history a second look, and not judge it by the Soviet Era. She makes the pre-revolutionary Russia seem idyllic and progressive in all its culture. While this is fun to read, it scews the reader into thinking that all was wonderful for all in pre-revolutionary Russia, and that the entire empire was pro-Russian. I would advise readers to read it, and to also read many other books about Russia and lands of the former Russian empire to get a truer picture of its cultural history.

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another absolutely splendid non fiction book. I was sorry it ended because I hated leaving that beautifiul, vibrant world. It was kind of a revelation to me that before the revolution Russia was a paradise filled with happy peasants, happy serfs, happy nobles, happy merchants and boyars and soldiers. The only people who seemed not to be in a constant state of educational, artistic, culinary and other bliss was the poor tsar. Poor tormented tsars, suffering so much while their country made merry. Haha probably this was not the deliberate message but wow. There was indeed a paradise on earth before the serpent Lenin and his evil henchmen crawled inside and, as the author put it (regarding the arts, and education, and interaction with the West) "a silence fell upon the land".

[J Layne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Author Suzanne Massie is the person who had Reagan memorize the Russian phrase Trust but verify (doverey, no proverey in Russian). Reagan read her book before his Geneva summit meeting with Gorbachev in Nov 1985. Easy to read, even though this is a textbook. Chapters are short, and the writing is very good. Fascinating and violent history of Russia ending before the 1917 revolution. What surprised me most about the Russia before 1917 was their religious emphasis and frequent religious festivals and focus on Christ. Reading this history of Russia makes me want to read a further history of Russia starting at the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution to current times.

[Ross Lampert · Rating 1 out of 5]

I couldn't finish this book, it's so unbelievable. Everything about pre-Bolshevik Revolution is beautiful, wonderful, exotic. Everything. There are no wars, except for some poet's or tsar's opportunity to be a dashing hero, no poverty, no famine, no epidemics, no persecution of minorities. Everyone dresses in the finest of cloth, covered in jewels or medals, even the peasants. Money flows like water. Even the poorest give banquets for tens, hundreds, or thousands. It's Lake Woebegone on steroids.

[Mary Wallan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Land of the Firebird is an exhaustive cultural history of Russia up to the revolution. It is exceedingly well researched and comprehensive. I particularly enjoyed its portraits of major 19th century writers, visual artists and dramatists. It gave me far more of a sense of where they fit in Russian society and their collaborations than I had before. I am using the book as a primer ahead of a trip to Russia.

[Fred Dameron · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ms. Massie looks at Russian music not as an adjunct to the ballet or opera but as art in and of itself. This is refreshing as many cultural histories see music through the lens of ballet or opera. Nice change. That said she does do an in depth look at ballet. She also looks more at Russian painting more than other books. Over all this is a good starter history of Russian culture and art.

[DoRena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was as dlightful as it was informative. Not merely recounting of significant historical events, but a glimpse at day-to-day life, and more than anything a picture of the influences on and of Russian arts.

[Jeanet Alessandra · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maravilloso libro sobre la mágica Rusia antigua.

[Lynne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this very beautifully descriptive history of Russian culture. Very educational.

[emese toth · Rating 4 out of 5]

a whimsical journey through russian culture, folklore, and history before the revolution of 1917. decisive in execution, gorgeous in storytelling, the land of the firebird is not a work i'll forget.