Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910), best known for realist fiction like War and Peace and Anna Karenina, is also remembered as a passionate and influential proponent of nonviolence. After experiencing a profound moral crisis and spiritual awakening in the 1870s, Tolstoy began to closely follow a pacifist doctrine. The letter reproduced on our cover, sent to a Russian conscientious objector, is a reflection of his fervent pacifism.