The Oak and the Larch: A Forest History of Russia and Its Empires

by Sophie Pinkham

A majestic cultural and environmental history that reveals how forests have made—and resisted—Russia’s empires.


From the Baltic to the Pacific, from the Arctic to the steppes of Central Asia, Russia’s forests account for nearly one–fifth of the world’s wooded lands. Award–winning journalist and scholar Sophie Pinkham presents the first–ever English–language exploration of this vast expanse. The Oak and the Larch is a dazzling account of how trees have shaped Russia, from the hardy Siberian larch to the majestic oaks of the heartland, with indelible portraits of the diverse peoples who have called this wilderness home. Pinkham analyzes the forest’s role in Russia’s long history of imperial conquest and discusses how sylvan mythologies shaped its culture, from pre–Christian forest spirits to the great works of literature and beyond. By examining the country from the forest’s perspective, The Oak and the Larch offers an urgent new understanding of the nature of Russian power, and of Russia’s ideas of itself.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Russia, Nature, Science, Audiobook, Russian History

Kindle Edition

First published January 20, 2026

About the author

Sophie Pinkham is a professor at Cornell University and a former NEH Public Scholar. Her writing on Russia and Ukraine has appeared in the New York Review of Books, New York Times, Guardian, New Yorker, and Harper’s. She lives in Ithaca, New York.

Reviews

[Kayla Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was an informative, fascinating, and engaging read! Sophie Pinkham covers centuries worth of history, covering topics ranging from forestry, politics, culture, indigenous histories, and literature. This book is packed with names, dates, and places that I am not very familiar with, but Pinkham’s writing kept me engaged and curious to learn more, turning what could have been a very tedious topic into a fascinating read! I would need to read it again and maybe read some other sources of Russian history to claim that I know the facts well, but I have certainly gained some initial understanding and definite interest in the ecological, cultural, and literary history of this part of the world. That’s not to say the facts aren’t here in this book, only that it would take me time to learn and remember them in detail. I greatly enjoyed the journey through the centuries and meeting interesting and notable historical figures along the way.
Thank you to NetGalley and W.W. Norton & Company for an early copy of this book in exchange for an honest review!

[Karyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

An environmental history of the Russian lands from the Kyiven Rus, the Mongols of the east, medievals, tsars, Soviets to oligarchs, traveling through time through fairytale forests of many peoples across one fifth of the world’s forests.

As a tree loving forest seeker my imagination enjoyed the exotic landscape so far from my home in the each day more bulldozed Florida, where deforestation has reached epic levels and we now find ourselves in a severe to extreme drought, the folly of fast dollars for the few who quickly depart.

The Oak and the Larch explores the sweep of time and theories of forest management, greedy mismanagement and yet how tree life returns after a Soviet dam is blown up in eastern Ukraine by modern Russia in a war that involves trees, as wars always have and always will do.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a niche but fascinating read about the environmental history of forests in Russia and their significance on the world’s largest country.

In The Oak and the Larch readers explore use of large ancient forests for military and industrial use from Peter the Great and Stalin, how forests are portrayed in Russian literature, and how eco-nationalists, eco-anarchists and conservationists became targets of government crackdowns in the 21st century.

The author also shows how the forests are portrayed in this century by Pro-Kremlin authors and their return to village life messages during the Russian Federation of the 21st century and their push for an aggressive Russian empire during their 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

But the large forests are also an obstacle for the Russian military. During the invasion, Russia destroyed large swaths of young forests and devastated wildlife.

Today as the invasion continues, Ukraine uses the forest to hide military equipment and troops; while Russian people use the Northern forests to hide from conscription from the Russian military and escape into Finland.

I love micro histories and the extreme focus of details on specific subjects because I think authors show their passion and effort to dig up such information. The Oak and the Larch is no different and is an interesting read for anyone interested in Russian history, especially post-revolution.

[sheereen · Rating 3 out of 5]

had high hopes for this one but perhaps i misunderstood the mission. also have redacted thoughts about the author’s politics

[Mark Peacock · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the first Russian history book I'd pick up, but it provides an interesting perspective on Russian history -- through the landscape (a Great Trees theory?) rather than social or political forces. While the book more or less follows a chronological flow, the geographic jumps (from what is now the Polish/Belorussian/Ukrainian border to Siberia, to the Caucasus, back Siberia, up to the Finnish border) assumed a knowledge of Russian geography that had me searching for maps.

For me, the most interesting chapters filled blank spaces in other Russian history books I've read (e.g., indigenous Siberian peoples colonized by Russian settlers) or covered events too recent to have been included (e.g., Russian ultranationalists in the 2020's as the new forest conservationists).

Pinkham is a professor of comparative literature at Cornell University so it makes sense that she covers a number of Russian authors and their books about the forest. I enjoyed the pages on Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Chekhov; not so much the less well-known Stalinist-era authors like Platonov, Shalamov, and especially all the pages devoted to Leonid Leonov.

[Marly Beck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book succeeded in warping my brain to forest-brain mode. I am 100% sold on Pinkham's suggestion that the history, future, and character of Russia is entwined with its forests'. I did not expect the thoughtful literary review that pulsed in every chapter; I've been left with a plentiful to-watch and to-read list. Pinkham cleverly weaved a narrative between chapters, pulling out comparative threads as we moved through the timeline. I am not super familiar with Russia's history, but Pinkham provided enough information for this scope of work to keep up with her references.

I did need more maps, a timeline, and a person directory. I had to google a lot of information and refer back to prior chapters frequently.

[Sofia Svensson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you're not interested in Russia, and forests, you might not like it, but I loved it. It's a wonderful history of Russia and its forests, but also a history of Russian culture. I'm very impressed by how Pinkham tells this story by looking at the actual history (of course) but also by looking at how the forest has been represented in culture over time. And she manages to weave this in such a way that it is a pleasure to read, whereas otherwise, it could easily have had too much of a textbook feel. At times, she overuses adjectives (especially when describing people), but that's just my personal preference, and it is something I was able to easily overlook 🤪 All in all, a great read!

[Denise Ruttan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was a fascinating and often gripping exploration of the forests of Russia and the impact they had on the cultural zeitgeist of the country as well as its imperialist ambitions.

It did this in quite an interesting way, by analyzing art, film, literature and folklore in which the forest played a significant role to show the shape it had on culture. It was fascinating to see how artists and writers found a way to have some artistic freedom even in the margins of successive oppressive regimes. The Soviet ideal came to be whatever the writer was trying to persuade it to be through the lens of the forest.

Then it examined the ecology and evolution of forestry practices as the regimes of Russia started to realize the dangers of deforestation. They went from exploiting this vast resource and treating nature like a factory, to seeing how that meant the disappearance of nature. Russia was seeing firsthand the effects of climate change on a microcosmic scale.

I also found it interesting to learn how diverse Russia is. I have an image of it as being a homogenous ethnic block of white Slavs, but it was thriving with hundreds of indigenous populations and diversity of religion before brutal dictatorships stamped out individual expression. It was interesting to learn about all the languages, the Old Believers, and how people survived the harsh taiga, the place that was impossible to subjugate to man's will.

It is very sad to think what Russia could have become if it had embraced its unique folklore and traditions instead of aggressively trying to modernize to Western ideals. It should be a source of great cultural shame. This book didn't shy away from criticizing Russia's imperialist ambitions. But it was interesting to see how people argued for sustainable forestry in a system keen on seeing nature as only a means to extract as much value as possible from it.

The author also had a keen eye for description and I felt as if I were traveling through these forests with her, though this was broken up by sometimes dry literary analysis.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for the advance review copy. I am leaving this review voluntarily.

[Jonny Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic survey of forests in Russia and its Empires, with particularly interesting analyses of significant books, films and art. Loved it!

[Clayton DeVos · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great book but I wish they focused a little more on contemporary Russia and the current regimes policy towards the forests. A perfect blend of my interests. 3 stars only because it was a little dense in some parts.

[Judy Masters · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Oak and Larch was more of history of Russia than of forests. I learned a lot. As a plant person I was disappointed because I wanted more botany.
The history of land use was unexpected. I had no idea the vast area of the Soviet Union.

[Kristen Connell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sophie Pinkham delivers a magnificent, deeply researched, and intellectually original work that transforms how we understand Russia, empire, and the natural world. The Oak and the Larch is far more than an environmental history it is a sweeping cultural and political reimagining of Russia told through the forests that shaped its survival, expansion, and identity.

What makes this book especially remarkable is the way Pinkham places forests at the center of Russian history, not as passive landscapes but as active forces in the making of empire and resistance. From the Baltic to Siberia, the oak and the larch become symbols of power, endurance, conquest, and memory, revealing how nature has both sustained and challenged the ambitions of rulers from the tsars to the Soviets to the present day.

The book shines in its extraordinary breadth. By weaving together ecology, literature, indigenous history, imperial politics, and cultural symbolism, Pinkham creates a portrait of Russia that feels both intimate and immense. Figures like Tolstoy, Chekhov, Stalin, and Dersu Uzala emerge not only as historical personalities, but as participants in a much larger relationship between people and wilderness.

The writing is elegant, immersive, and often lyrical, making complex environmental and political histories feel vivid and urgent. The result is a work that challenges readers to rethink not only Russia, but the role of landscape in shaping every civilization.

This is an essential read for anyone interested in Russian history, environmental studies, empire, literature, and the intersection of nature and political power.

A remarkable and unforgettable contribution to nonfiction.

[Lisa]

I came to this solely for the author - I had heard her on podcasts and loved Black Square: Adventures in Post-Soviet Ukraine. I'm also interested enough in Russian and Soviet history, and sure, in the forests therein (I loved Owls of the Eastern Ice: A Quest to Find and Save the World's Largest Owl). So I guess the best I can say for this book is that it was too academic for me and I was not the intended audience. That is, I found it quite a slog to get through - the scope is about as massive as the subjects themselves. (from the nyt review: "Pinkham has taken on a Siberian sprawl of a subject, and at times the avalanche of names, places and events grows dizzying. Her contention that all of Russian history can be viewed through the prism of its forests occasionally feels strained. Not every political or cultural development reduces to botany, and the organizing metaphor can verge on the simplistic.") Overall, given how I came to this book, I was disappointed.

[Laura N · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so excited to read this, but it was a huge disappointment. The author clearly was biased against Christianity, specifically Orthodox Christianity . A lot of her examples against Christianity in her introduction and in subsequent chapters, were from poor translations that were incorrect. I even tried to find the source/translation she used, but nothing was found in her notes.

Consistently throughout the book, her personal bias was evident. The book was sort of a history book about forests that ranged from modern day Poland to Siberia. She throws in snippets of history (usually negative) discussing both historical figures as well as famous Russian and indigenous authors. Mixing history information with how those figures viewed the landscape (forests) for their personal gain or inspiration. Reading this seemed a little disjoined as I felt like historically it jumped around a lot.

This could have been a better book if it focused either on history (specifically focusing on the Siberian peoples and their relationship with the forest) or just a literary aspect. The author is a Comparative Literature Professor so maybe she should have just focused on the literary aspect as there was way too much personal bias in this to feel like an authentic history book.

[Joshua · Rating 4 out of 5]

In The Oak and the Larch, Sophie Pinkham attempts to trace the place of Russia's forest in the Russian national imaginary. Situating Russia as a place, rather than the current state, allows her to begin her analysis with Chinggis Khan and the Mongol horde and trace a through line of forest-related thoughts and attitudes all the way to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Pinkham is a professor at Cornell, specializing in Soviet and post-Soviet literature and history, so her book is well-researched and reasoned. I found many intriguing resonances between the role of forests and eco-nationalism in present-day Russia's slide to autocracy and their role in the same slide in the present-day United States. The first half of the book, which detailed Russian Imperialists' first encounters with Indigenous Peoples in Siberia and contained fascinating close readings of Russian literary giants like Tolstoy, was incredibly strong, but I found that the narrative and arguments frayed a little as Pinkham began to interrogate the connection between forests and the Ukraine invasion. Overall, it was a well-written and deeply insightful environmental history.

[Richard Thompson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have read many histories of Russia from many points of view, but never before have I read one from the perspective of the trees. Russia is such a nation of trees. Why didn't anybody else think of this before? It's a great concept and Ms. Pinkham executes it well. All of the standard history is woven into it, but there is much more here - how Russian attitudes toward their massive forests have yoyoed between respect and plunder, the relationship between the forests and the indigenous people who the Russians found there, the peasant farmers, the trappers, the exiles, the Gulag prisoners, the engineers, the Old Believers, the ecologists and the eco-nationalists. It's a crazy mixture of crazy people. And then there is the ongoing discussion of how the forests play in Russian literature from Pushkin to Turgenev and Tolstoy, to Mandelstam, to Valentin Rasputin and more. This book is a treasure trove of things I love about Russia, a strange and curious place with a soul as big as Siberia.

[Allegra Goodman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this would be interesting. I didn't expect to be a page turner as well. Pinkham hooked me from the first page where she describes the vast forests and the forest people of prehistoric Russia. This is a history of Russia through an environmental lens and I love the fresh perspective. Traditional histories focus so much on politics and culture as if people stand apart and create their world. I'm fascinated by the forest-context and Pinkham's use of the natural world to frame wars, migrations, and empires. In Pinkham's account, people and trees shape each other. This book is thought provoking and beautifully written. Every scene comes alive because this is great narrative history. As I was reading, I began to ponder all that our forests might say about North America and the United States.

[Adele Enright · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic!

This was my introduction to Russian history. This is a highly interesting cultural and environmental history told through Russia’s relationship with its forests. I learned so much. This book is an adventure in time travel from the long ago past to the present. My only advice if you are not familiar with Russia’s geography to get a large map. The maps in the book are helpful but I should have had a large map by my side while reading to get a better sense of place and location.

[Christopherch · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book serves as an excellent companion to Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization by John Perlin, expanding the story by exploring the history of forests in Russia and Eastern Europe.

I’m particularly fascinated by the Białowieża Forest (pronounced Bee-uh-wo-VYAY-zha), a rare remnant of primeval woodland with a rich and compelling history. Preserved in part by its marshy, inaccessible terrain, it has long been contested and has served as a refuge in times of conflict. Straddling the boundary between East and West, it is home to an extraordinary diversity of flora and fauna, offering a glimpse of what much of Europe’s forests may once have looked like before widespread deforestation. Even today, it stands as a vast, living ecosystem of remarkable ecological and historical significance.

Pinkham approaches the much of the subject from a literary perspective, which is no bad thing: writers such as Tolstoy, Turgenev, and Chekhov we often central for issues of land, serfdom, and political awareness of the day, while remaining deeply connected, in their own ways, to forests and woodlands.
We get an idea of the forces that formed the continent over the and how that trees and forests we at the core with marauding mongals superior horse power only being held in check by the physical restraint on dense woodland marsh and water.
I was aware that the idea that the notion of synthesis found interpretation and was distorted for reasons political:
According to Lysenko’s anthropomorphizing theories—which could be seen as a Stalinist distortion of Kropotkin’s theory of mutual aid, or as a bizarre precursor to Suzanne Simard’s theory of the “wood wide web” - plants could work as a collective, helping each other to grow and acting in the interest of the greater good. Oak acorns, for example, could be planted in nests in a formation that would allow them to defend each other against malevolent outsiders such as weeds. This would allow the forest to win its struggle against the steppe at last. The victory of the new forest would standfor socialism’s triumph against capitalism, and the Soviet Union’s triumph over its foreign foes. In Lysenkoism, political metaphor always trumped scientific method.

[Alexis Kaelin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was very uneven, as are most English-language books about Russia. Some chapters were great and really captured the essence of the topic. Other chapters were just weird filler with dubious conclusions. Pinkham also left out some fundamental forest/tree connections while making much of other more tangential topics. It was disappointing when you have high expectations, but all in all not a bad book.

[Denise Robbins]

A lovely book. The chapters were quick and breezy, which made it an easy read, but I found myself hoping for more info: A lot of it felt rather introductory, especially on the history side of things. But this is a huge topic -- the history of Russia's forests, and how those forests shaped history and the Russian imagination -- and the author covered its scope with competency. I was pleasantly surprised at all the references to literature, which felt deeper than the history.

[Sophie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't like super jazzed by this book but that's probably just because it wasn't as crazy or funny as the nonfiction I'm used to reading. Russians must take their folklore quite seriously, judging by all the political commentary in their storytelling. Very informative regardless of my personal tastes!

[Matilda King · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book stands out because of its creative approach to history. It doesn’t just tell events, it connects them to landscapes and environments in a meaningful way.

The forest becomes more than a setting, it becomes part of the story of empire, culture, and change.

It’s dense, but also rich and rewarding for readers willing to engage with it deeply.

[LNae · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Oak and The Larch is a hard book to place - it covers a span of history from before the Golden Hord to today and draws from myth, poetry, literature, and politics to bring the story of the great Russian forests. Pinkham does a wonderful job of making the forest a character in the story.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Can’t decide if I should give 3 or 4 stars. 4 for the incredible research and weaving together the thread over decades. This book probably works best for people like me who know and are interested in Russian history pretty well.

[Brad · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really terrific.

[Clare Potter · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting way of looking at the social history of Russia, through its forests. How they have been cleared, grown, used by partisans, hidden in etc.

[Leslie Rawls · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating.

[Wendy · Rating 4 out of 5]

a beautiful niche read, covering centuries, spanning continents and regimes and religions and politics and culture. just lovely.

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat uneven but with brilliant passages of nature writing and historical insights about the geography, history and topography of Russia.

Library book.