Book Synopsis: Some critics have referred to War and Peace as the greatest novel ever written. Ivan Turgeney, a contemporary of Tolstoy, said the book "will never die as long as the Russian language lives"; nor is it likely to die in any of the numerous other languages into which it has been translated. Whether it is read as an epic of the Napoleonic wars or as a scathing attack on war itself, whether as a defense of aristocracy or as a criticism of Tsarist Russia's has attracted enthusiastic admiration from countless readers throughout the world. The century since its publication has only added to its statue as a timeless masterpiece.
