Count Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy (1828 - 1910), usually known as Leo Tolstoy, was a Russian writer, widely regarded as one of the greatest authors of all time. He received many nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature and for Nobel Peace Prize. The fact that he never won is a major controversy.
He was born into an aristocratic Russian family although often struggled. He is best known for the novels War and Peace (1869) and Anna Karenina (1877), often cited as the peak of realist fiction. He first came to literary acclaim in his twenties with his semi-autobiographical trilogy, Childhood, Boyhood, and Youth (1852–1856), along with Sevastopol Sketches (1855), based on his experiences in the Crimean War.
During the 1870s Tolstoy experienced a profound moral crisis, which resulted in him to become a fervent Christian anarchist and pacifist.
This autobiography covers his youth from 1847 - 1852 and includes footnotes, which are linked to the end of the book.
