Set against the backdrop of Napoleon's invasion of Russia, War and Peace follows five different Russian families over fifteen years: as courtiers, as a populace experiencing turmoil, and as human beings with their own hopes and heartbreaks. Described alternately as "the Russian Iliad," "the Bible of a national ideal," "an extraordinary poem of a novel," and "life itself in eternal movement."

Count Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) was born to a noble Russian family and produced some of the most outstanding works of realist fiction, including Anna Karenina, War and Peace, and The Death of Ivan Ilyich.  Tolstoy was also an advocate of democratic education, Christian anarchism, pacificism, and vegetarianism.