Thomas Hardy, an English writer who lived around the same period as Tolstoy, achieved one of his greatest accomplishments later in life with his lengthy poem, The Dynasts, composed between 1903 and 1908. This epic drama, spanning nineteen acts and 135 scenes, is considered unstageable. The poem centers on England's involvement in the Napoleonic Wars.

Tolstoy's other major work is Anna Karenina, a novel from 1877 that tells the story of an aristocratic woman engaged in a forbidden romance with a count.

Crime and Punishment, hailed as Fyodor Dostoyevsky's literary masterpiece, was released in 1866, coinciding with the initial publication of War and Peace.

Ivan Turgenev, a Russian author and friend of Tolstoy, is highly regarded for his 1862 novel Fathers and Sons, which critics deem his finest work.

Readers patient enough to navigate the extensive narrative of this novel might be prepared for Herman Melville's 1851 epic, Moby Dick, which explores the journey of a whaling ship captain and his fixation on the titular great white whale.

Henri Troyat's biography, Tolstoy, published by Doubleday and Co. in 1967, offers a detailed account of the fascinating life and times of this remarkable author.