March 28, 1967. Egg Roll; A large bunny attracted the attention of children and their parents during the annual Easter egg roll Monday on the south lawn of the White House. The bunny was made by Fred Johansen, Silver Spring, Md. Nearly 17,000 youngsters and adults took part in the egg rolling. The President and Mrs. John-son were not at the festivities because they were in Camp David, Md. The tradition of egg rolling was begun in 1878 during the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes. (Photo by Minneapolis Star Tribune)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

Spunky runs during the third heat of a dog race Monday, September 1, 2014, at Canterbury Park, in Shakopee, Minn. Canterbury Park hosted their annual Labor Day Wiener Dog Wars in which dogs competed in seven races on the horse track for the title of Grand Champion. (Photo by Jeff Wheeler/AP Photo/The Star Tribune)

American actress Logan Browning attends Cocktails with the SAG Awards at The Shrine Auditorium on January 16, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

Tank crew standing in front of M-4 tank, Ft. Knox, Kentucky, June, 1942. (Alfred Palmer/OWI/LOC)

Two demonstrators hurl stones at Soviet tanks on Leipziger Platz in East Berlin, Germany on June 17, 1953. Germany's parliament on Friday, June 16, 2023, commemorated the 70th anniversary of a popular uprising in the communist east that was brutally crushed by the Soviet-backed dictatorship.(Photo by AP Photo, File)

Film actress Audrey Hepburn (1929–1993) on a film set with her pet poodle, circa 1960. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

Crews inflate hot air balloons during the 39th annual New Jersey Lottery Festival of Ballooning at Solberg Airport Friday, July 29, 2022, in Readington, N.J. The festival, which runs through Sunday, July 31, will feature as many as 100 balloons. (Photo by Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo)