Hailed as one of the world's greatest writers - by the likes of Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Woolf, Joyce, Proust, Faulkner, and Nabokov - Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) is best known for his novels War and Peace and Anna Karenina. He also received literary acclaim for his novel Resurrection, novellas such as The Death of Ivan Ilyich, and dozens of short stories including Master and Man and Walk in the Light. His spiritual and philosophical essays on Christianity, nonviolent resistance, and justice profoundly influenced Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr., among others.
Born into Russian nobility, Tolstoy eventually renounced his wealth and title to put his beliefs into practice.