The Power of the Land (Russian: Власть земли, romanized: Vlast zemli) is a collection of sketches by Gleb Uspensky, first published in Otechestvennye zapiski, Nos.

It was there that in November 1881-March 1882 that he wrote the cycle of sketches, mixing fiction and non-fiction, based on his observations of the rural life in provincial Russia.

"[1] The general idea of Uspensky's work is that the life of Russian peasantry is determined by what he terms as "the power of the land," which it is totally dependent upon and is being given a very special mindset by.

Having no sympathy for it whatsoever, he never considered its emergence as something inevitable, thinking this to be the result of insensitive administrative decisions, made with total disregard for Russian history and traditions.

Most of the critics of the liberal camp, including Alexander Pypin and Konstantin Arsenyev (both writing in Vestnik Evropy), praised the book.

Some, like Leonid Obolensky (Russkoye Bogatstvo, March 1883) and Semyon Vengerov (Nedelya, No.5, 1882), while recognising the literary merits of Uspensky's work, condemned the author for his treatment of the narodnik's ideals.

Still, in retrospect, the most objective and thorough analysis of the book has been provided by the two narodniks, Mikhail Protopopov (Delo, 1882, No.7) and Alexander Skabichevsky (Ustoyi, 1882, No.2).