'Russia in the Age of Alexander II, Tolstoy and Dostoevsky' is both history and story, incorporating in its analysis of Alexander II's turbulent reign the lives and ideas of the period's great writers, thinkers and revolutionaries who made this the Golden Age of Russian literature and thought. In his combination of considerable biographical material with the presentation of the main ideas of the era's chief writers and thinkers, Walter G. Moss has written a history that is of interest not only to scholars and students of the period, but also to more general readers.

Very few if any have devoted more years to practicing and teaching others to practice the precepts of Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount than Leo Tolstoy. He stands apart in the history of interpretation and has had enormous influence on others and other countries. Yet, Gandhi or others often get the glory. Tolstoy is remembered as a great writer, but his religious and philosophical works are by and large unknown or disparaged, even in scholarly Tolstoyan circles. His contribution is substantially under-appreciated and misunderstood. In Second Tolstoy: The Sermon on the Mount as Theo-tactics, Steve Hickey captures the particulars and dynamics of Tolstoy’s interpretation of the Sermon on the Mount from a deliberately sympathetic vantage point. Underlying this project is shared belief with Tolstoy that the Sermon on the Mount is liveable and to be lived. While from the vantage point of traditional orthodoxy Tolstoy got much wrong, there remains a lack of appreciation for what he got right—radical obedience to the teachings of Jesus. A new vocabulary is proposed to more precisely capture Tolstoyan lived theology, namely the political and social expressions of Tolstoyan Christianity, with the hope that these theories and practices will gain a wider consideration, understanding, and following.

A group of rich Russians gather one night for hospitality and conversation, all admitting that they aren’t happy and aren’t optimistic that their children will ever find happiness either. They agree that the ideal of spirituality is one thing, but that it’s easier said than done. Here follows a story about the lives of a couple of ordinary men who convert from paganism to Christianity. Walk in the Light While There is Light is an inspiring and uplifting Christian short story. Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian author, a master of realistic fiction and one of the world’s greatest novelists. Tolstoy’s major works include "War and Peace" (1865–69) and "Anna Karenina" (1875–77), two of the greatest novels of all time and pinnacles of realist fiction. Beyond novels, he wrote many short stories and later in life also essays and plays.

This biography of the brilliant author of War and Peace and Anna Karenina “should become the first resort for everyone drawn to its titanic subject” (Booklist, starred review). In November 1910, Count Lev Tolstoy died at a remote Russian railway station. At the time of his death, he was the most famous man in Russia, more revered than the tsar, with a growing international following. Born into an aristocratic family, Tolstoy spent his existence rebelling against not only conventional ideas about literature and art but also traditional education, family life, organized religion, and the state. In “an epic biography that does justice to an epic figure,” Rosamund Bartlett draws extensively on key Russian sources, including fascinating material that has only become available since the collapse of the Soviet Union (Library Journal, starred review). She sheds light on Tolstoy’s remarkable journey from callow youth to writer to prophet; discusses his troubled relationship with his wife, Sonya; and vividly evokes the Russian landscapes Tolstoy so loved and the turbulent times in which he lived.

What were the consequences of Tolstoy’s unusual reliance on members of his family as source material for War and Peace? Did affection for close relatives influence depictions of these real prototypes in his fictional characters? Tolstoy used these models to consider his origins, to ponder alternative family histories, and to critique himself. Comparison of the novel and its fascinating drafts with the writer’s family history reveals increasing preferential treatment of those with greater relatedness to him: kin altruism, i.e., nepotism. This pattern helps explain many of Tolstoy’s choices amongst plot variants he considered, as well as some of the curious devices he utilizes to get readers to share his biases, such as coincidences, notions of “fate,” and aversion to incest.