Tolstoy (1828-1910) was a Russian author who is regarded as one of the greatest writers of all time and best-known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877). In addition to his novels, novellas and numerous short stories he produced several works of non-fiction. This philosophical treatise was first published in Germany in 1894, having been banned in Russia. It is the culmination of thirty years of Tolstoy's thinking, and lays out a new organization for society based on an interpretation of Christianity focusing on universal love. Reprinted from the English translation of 1894 by Constance Garnett.