Journal Entry 1 by Semming from Helsinki, Uusimaa Finland on Wednesday, May 31, 2006

Back cover:
"War and Peace is a vast epic centred on Napoleon's war with Russia. While it expresses Tolstoy's view that history is an inexorable process which man cannot influence, he peoples his great novel with a cast of over five hundred characters.

Three of these, the artless and delightful Natasha Rostov, the world-weary Prince Andrew Bolkonsky and the idealistic Pierre Bezukhov illustrate Tolstoy's philosophy in this nove of unquestioned mastery.

This translation is the one which received Tolstoy's approval."