“Reading this collection convinces me that Professor McLean is the most modest, appreciative, and penetrating critic of Tolstoy I’ve ever read."

- Bob Blaisdell, Kingsborough Community College, City University of New York, The Tolstoy Studies Journal

“The volume is an invaluable companion both for readers of Tolstoy and for long-time fans of McLean’s meticulous and thought-provoking work... Through his masterful command of Tolstoy’s writings, McLean seems to lead the reader right into Tolstoy’s mind.”

- Robin Feuer Miller, Brandeis University,

“…[T]his book is an important contribution to Tolstoy studies and will be surely of interest not only to specialists in Tolstoy or Russian literature and culture but to the general reader as well, largely thanks to its accessible, unpretentious and engaging style… In addition to its scholarly, informative, and pragmatic value, McLean’s book can be a source of genuine emotional and intellectual pleasure: one leaves it with a sense of having held an illuminating conversation with a very intelligent reader of Tolstoy and a passionate admirer of this great talent.”

- Valeria Sobol, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Slavic and East European Journal