First published in its entirety in 1869, Leo Tolstoy's masterpiece, War and Peace, is both epic and understandably intimidating. The first published edition weighed in at a daunting 1225 pages. Alacrity Press is proud to republish this grand literary achievement as an unabridged slimline edition, which at just over 300 pages and less than three-quarters of an inch thick is meant to actually be read without breaking one's back. This level of economy and portability is accomplished through the use of double columns of professionally-set six point type. Skeptical?-Please peruse the Amazon "Look...

Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy(9th September 1828 - 20th November 1910) was born into a well known Russian family of nobility who was brought up by relatives following his parents death when he was very young. Described by his teachers at university as "unable and unwilling to learn" he abandoned all formal education and after running up gambling debts joined the army with his older brother. Here he started writing and had a moral and spiritual awakening that transformed him from the privileged aristocrat to a social reformer leading the life of an ascetic peasant. Later still, his...

In the last two days of his own life, Peter Carson completed these new translations of The Death of Ivan Ilyich and Confession before he succumbed to cancer in January 2013. Carson, the eminent British publisher, editor, and translator who, in the words of his author Mary Beard, had probably more influence on the literary landscape of England] over the past fifty years than any other single person, must have seen the irony of translating Ilyich, Tolstoy s profound meditation on death and loss, but he pressed on regardless, apparently refusing to be distracted by the parallel of literature...

'How much do you get for a lesson?' 'Sometimes a ruble, sometimes fifty kopeks, or sometimes thirty. They are all so kind to me.' 'And do your pupils get on well?' asked Kasatsky with a slight smile. Praskovya Mikhaylovna did not at first believe that he was asking seriously, and looked inquiringly into his eyes. 'Some of them do. One of them is a splendid girl-the butcher's daughter-such a good kind girl If I were a clever woman I ought, of course, with the connexions Papa had, to be able to get an appointment for my son-in-law. But as it is I have not been able to do anything, and have...

Master and Man - By Leo Tolstoy. "Master and Man" is a short story by Leo Tolstoy (1895). In this short story, a land owner named Vasili Andreevich Brekhunov takes along one of his peasants, Nikita, for a short journey to the house of the owner of a forest. He is impatient and wishes to get to the town more quickly 'for business' (purchasing the forest before other contenders can get there). They find themselves in the middle of a blizzard, but the master in his avarice wishes to press on. They eventually get lost off the road and they try to camp. The master's peasant soon finds himself...

This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923. This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book.

Excerpt: ...was interrupted by the entrance of Maslova, who was preceded by the warden. Nekhludoff got sight of her when she appeared on the threshold and before she saw the inspector. Her face was red, and she walked briskly behind the warden, smiling and shaking her head. Noticing the inspector she gazed at him with frightened face, but immediately recovered herself and boldly and cheerfully turned to Nekhludoff. "How do you do?" she said, drawlingly, smiling and Pg 161 vigorously shaking his hand, not as on the former occasion. "Here I have brought you the petition to sign," said...

A collection of Tolstoy's lesser known, shorter works, What Men Live By and Other Tales is a worthwhile, excellent read that will leave you wiser for the experience.