What Then Must We Do? (Green Classics Series) [Paperback]

Leo Tolstoy (Author), Aylmer Maude (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Green Classics Series | Publication Date: August 1991

Poverty, exploitation and greed seem to be perennial aspects of the human condition and it is these issues that Tolstoy addresses in "What Then Must We Do?" At the time of its publication, the book had a great impact on thinking people both in Russia and abroad, who acknowledged the power of his account of life in the Moscow slums. In examining the causes of poverty through the ages, Tolstoy develops a vision of a way of life that would deny the possibility of the exploitation of one person by another: a vision of self-discipline and responsibility, of joy, passion and compassion, in which work for its own sake plays an essential part as a means to a healthy and kindly life.

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: Green Books (August 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1870098331
• ISBN-13: 978-1870098335
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,490,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Leo Tolstoy (1828-1910) wrote two of the great novels of the nineteenth century, War and Peace and Anna Karenina.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The essence of later Tolstoy, March 13, 2010

By 

Bruce Watson (Leverett, MA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: What Then Must We Do? (Green Classics Series) (Paperback)

What a pity that this book is so expensive. Check it out from a university library. It's not "War and Peace" but it does contain the essence of later Tolstoy. With fervent humanism and more than a little aristocratic guilt, the great writer asks how we are to deal with the poor among us. His first remedy upon meeting a beggar -- giving the man all his money -- doesn't seem to change much so he begins a deep examination of the problem of inequality in human life, asking questions we might all do well to consider.