It is generally considered a text on civil disobedience, pacifism, and anarchism, and it is Tolstoy's last non-fiction work detailing his final opinions on political, economic, and religious issues.
It was translated from Russian to English in 1975 by Dr. Ronald Sampson, lecturer in Politics at the University of Bristol, England, and published by Housmans jointly with the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
[2] The original text of the essay is drawn from the Russian Jubilee edition of Tolstoy's Complete collected works.
[4] The text is also considered critical by academic G. M. Hamburg in understanding historian Boris Eikhenbaum's incorrect assessment on Tolstoy's opinion of Vekhi, a collection of essays written by the Russian intelligentsia.
[5] The academic Alexandre J. M. E. Christoyannopoulos also considers this text when comparing the political influence of religion, notably terrorism, with the peaceful and love-based vision proposed by Tolstoy.