FINDING OUT ABOUT THE EARLY RUSSIANS

by Tamara Talbot Rice

168 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1962

About the author

Tamara Talbot Rice was a Russian then English art historian, writing on Byzantine, Russian and Central Asian art. Talbot Rice was born Elena Abelson, to Louisa Elizabeth Vilenkin and Israel Boris Abelevich Abelson, the latter a businessman and member of the Czar's financial administration, a privileged family which fled Russia in 1917. Married David Talbot Rice and worked with him during the late 1920s and 30s.

She began to publish after the second world war writing on Russian Art and Russian history as well as on the art and history of the Scythians, Seljuks, and Byzantines.

Reviews

[Charlene Mathe · Rating 4 out of 5]

This brief book tells the story of the area known to us as Russia that is home to nearly 200 ethnic and language groups. With imagination and historic detail, the author paints a vivid picture from the Stone Age to the modern age of the dominant cultures that thrived, each for hundreds of years, only to be pushed out and replaced by succeeding cultures. The narration ends in the time of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great, who collected artifacts of the preceeding centuries in what became the reknown Hermitage Museum of St. Petersburg.
The book is a great complement to Neal Ascherson's 1996 book, "Black Sea." It covers much of the same history, filling in some detail from a different angle. I definitely recommend this book for the young reader in particular. This would be a great book to read with a son or daughter, or with a class; following each chapter with a discussion of the modern descendants and geopolitics in the news of our day.