19c 19th-century book c19 classic classic-fiction classic-literature classics collection epic europe european-literature family fiction general-fiction great-books historical historical-fiction history leo-tolstoy literary-fiction literature love military napoleon napoleonic napoleonic-war napoleonic-wars nineteenth-century novel novels peace religion roman romance russia russian russian-author russian-fiction russian-history russian-lit russian-literature tolstoy war world-literature

Set against the sweeping panoply of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, War and Peacepresented here in the first new English translation in forty yearsis often considered the greatest novel ever written. At its center are Pierre Bezukhov, searching for meaning in his life; cynical Prince Andrei, ennobled by wartime suffering; and Natasha Rostov, whose impulsiveness threatens to destroy her happiness. As Tolstoy follows the changing fortunes of his characters, he crafts a view of humanity that is both epic and intimate and that continues to define fiction at its most resplendent.
* Includes an introduction, note on the translation, cast of characters, maps, notes on the major battles depicted, and chapter summaries

"The best translation so far of Tolstoy's masterpiece into English."
-Robert A. Maguire, professor emeritus of Russian studies, Columbia University

"In Tolstoy's work part of the translator's difficulty lies in conveying not only the simplicity but the subtlety of the book's scale and effect. . . . Briggs has rendered both with a particular exactness and a vigorous precision not to be found, I think, in any previous translation."
-John Bayley, author of Elegy for Iris