Konstantin Stanislavsky, one of the greatest artistic innovators of the early twentieth century, transformed theatre throughout the world. His life and work intersect with some of the most significant cultural and political milestones of a tumultuous period, from the emancipation of the serfs, to the Russian Revolution, to the Stalinist Terror.Laurence Senelick, one of the world's foremost scholars of Russian theatre, mines the Moscow archives and the definitive Russian edition of Stanislavsky's works, to produce the richest collection of his letters in any language other than Russian.