War and Peace: Volume 1 — Leo Tolstoy

Condition: Good, considering age.
Penguin, 1974, Vintage paperback – Classic Fiction – 712pp. ISBN 0140440623.

War and Peace is a novel by the Russian author Leo Tolstoy, first published in its entirety in 1869. The work is epic in scale and is regarded as one of the most important works of world literature. In redefining the fictional novel, Tolstoy’s genius has explored what is fundamentally human with scope and Russian spirit. Presented here in this edition is the first of two volumes.

War and Peace is primarily concerned with the histories of five aristocratic families–particularly the Bezukhovs, the Bolkonskys, and the Rostovs–the members of which are portrayed against a vivid background of Russian social life during the war against Napoleon (1805-14). The theme of war, however, is subordinate to the story of family existence, which involves Tolstoy’s optimistic belief in the life-asserting pattern of human existence. The heroine, Natasha Rostova, for example, reaches her greatest fulfilment through her marriage to Pierre Bezukhov and her motherhood.
The novel also sets forth a theory of history, concluding that there is a minimum of free choice; all is ruled by an inexorable historical determinism.

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