Opening paragraphs................................

Around Moscow, the country rolls gently up from the rivers winding in silvery loops across the pleasant landscape.  Small lakes and patches of woods are sprinkled among the meadowlands.  Here and there, a village appears, topped by the onion dome of its church.  People are walking through the fields on dirt paths lined with weeds.  Along the riverbanks, they are fishing, swimming and lying in the sun.  It is a familiar Russian scene,  rooted in centuries.
-Robert K. Massie,  Peter The Great:  His Life and World