In Russias struggle with Napoleon, Tolstoy saw a tragedy that involved all mankind. Greater than a historical chronicle, War and Peace is an affirmation of life itself, a complete picture, as a contemporary reviewer put it, of everything in which people find their happiness and greatness, their grief and humiliation. Tolstoy gave his personal approval to this translation, published here in a new single volume edition, which includes an introduction by Henry Gifford, and Tolstoys important essay Some Words about War and Peace.