Meet Leo Tolstoy: Everything, and Not Enough

The crisis

At fifty Tolstoy had War and Peace, Anna Karenina, an estate, a family — and hid ropes from himself so he couldn't end his life. A Confession records the question that undid him: is there any meaning in my life that death does not destroy? Fame and genius, he found, had no answer.

The turn

His answer became simplicity: plowing beside peasants, making his own boots, giving away copyrights against his family's fury — and essays on nonviolence that a young lawyer in South Africa named Gandhi read like a lightning strike. The novelist of everything chose to need almost nothing.

Why they belong at your table

Seat him for the midlife question mark. He had everything the world offers and can tell you precisely why it wasn't enough.