Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy, nicknamed the Comrade Count, was a Russian writer who wrote in many genres but specialized in science fiction and historical novels.
The detail that completely flipped my perspective in Teryosha was how many classic "folk traditions" were actually invented by marketing people less than a century ago. Aleksey Nikolayevich Tolstoy leaned on old ads, catalogs, and company memos, and the receipts are hilarious, like a greeting card exec bragging about creating a holiday out of thin air. The pacing dragged a bit in the chapter on regional variations, which felt like a list. Solid pick if you love pulling the curtain back on "tradition."