War and Peace - abridged Author:Leo Tolstoy War and Peace is universally acclaimed as one of the supreme classics of world literature. The subject of the novel is the gigantic canvas of all life - as revealed against the monumental background of Napoleon's invasion of Russia in 1812. It is a teaming panorama of tsarist aristocrats and humble peasants, heroic battles and vainglorious soldi... more »ers, cowards, sages and fools. War and Peace is not only the awesome spectacle of two worlds - France and Russia - caught in a life-and-death struggle, but it also captures with brilliance and for all time the moving forces of history which change and illuminate men's lives.« less