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Wipf and Stock Publishers Ivan the Fool and Three Shorter Tales for Living Peaceably by Leo Tolstoy Translated by Louise Maude Edited by Ted Lewis
The four classic tales in this volume illuminate Leo Tolstoys radical orientation toward war and commerce revealing his vision for a sustainable peaceable world. The feature story Ivan the Fool presents an archetypal fool who works hard cooperates with everyone and manages to foil every attempt to cause his downfall. In the end peasant life comes out on top while the pillars of imperial Russian society topple down. Esarhaddon King of Assyria explores a kings empathy-based revelation to end all violence; and A Grain as Big as a Hens Egg playfully looks at the relationship between health soil labor and food economies. Three Questions sums up Tolstoys highest ideal of serving others in the present moment. Some may critique these stories as being too simplistic or too moralistic. But these tales have stood the test of time precisely because they entertain well while evoking universal truths that lift us above humanitys self-serving impulses. A rare gem! This small book draws one into the sacred wisdom of the holy fool. Readers will savor kernels of life-giving insight will find the soul smiling at truths it always knew but had forgotten and will gain more power for the art of living rightly on this good Earth. --Cynthia Moe-Lobeda Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary GTU Ivan the Fool re-presents the ancient tradition of holy foolery for our postmodern age with tales of transgressive humor that disrupt power scandalize the elite and delight the masses. In Ivans world you dont have to pay to get in but itll cost you your life to get out. Welcome to the upside down. --Rose Marie Berger Sojourners magazine If Russia at feudalisms dusk had heeded these pointed folktales from her literary son she might not have had to endure so many impish terrors from Stalin to Putin. Yet Tolstoys parables are just as relevant to toxic American militarism and plutocracy right now. --Ched Myers and Elaine Enns Bartimaeus Cooperative Ministries Leo Tolstoy 1828-1910 was one of the foremost Russian authors of the nineteenth century known well for his novel War and Peace. His ethical writings and short stories which dealt with anarchist and pacifist themes had a strong influence on Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. One collection of his tales can be found in Walk in the Light & Twenty-Three Tales. Ted Lewis Editor is a restorative justice consultant and trainer for the Center for Restorative Justice & Peacemaking University of Minnesota. He lives in Duluth Minnesota where he runs the Agape Peace Center.show more