How Much Land Does a Man Need and Other Stories

Containing several of his well-known later short stories, this volume also includes tales from Tolstoy's early years in the Russian Army, a time of his life when he was already exploring the profound moral questions of war, love, and courage.

A few, such as "Where Love Is, God Is" and "What Men Live By", have had such a deep impact on our communities that we have performed them as plays. All these works are characterized by freshness and an almost biblical simplicity.

About the Author

Leo Tolstoy was born in central Russia in 1828. He studied Oriental languages and law (although failed to earn a degree in the latter) at the University of Kazan, and after a dissolute youth eventually joined an artillery regiment in the Caucasus in 1851. He took part in the Crimean War, and the Sebastopol Sketches that emerged from it established his reputation. After living for some time in St Petersburg and abroad, he married Sophie Behrs in 1862 and they had thirteen children. The happiness this brought him gave him the creative impulse for his two greatest novels, War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). Later in life his views became increasingly radical as he gave up his possessions to live a simple peasant life. After a quarrel with his wife he fled home secretly one night to seek refuge in a monastery. He became ill during this dramatic flight and died at the small railway station of Astapovo in 1910.