Tolstoy's epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individua
ls during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The
fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are
intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel w
ith their lives. Balls and soirees alternate with councils of war and the machin
ations of statesmen and generals, scenes of violent battles with everyday human
passions in a work whose extraordinary imaginative power has never been surpasse
d.
