Asserting that violence of any kind is an affront to the teachings of Jesus, Tolstoy’s nonfiction masterpiece traces the origins of nonviolent resistance to the foundations of Christianity and espouses it as a means to solve both individual and national woes. This impassioned apology of Christian pacifism influenced luminaries such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. The book features correspondence between Tolstoy and Gandhi on the topic.