Shelfology Book Pairing

The Rise and Downfall of Prussia, 1600-1947

by Christopher M. Clark

In the aftermath of World War II and in the Allies eagerness to erase all traces of the Third Reich from the earth, Prussia ceased to exist as a country. But as Clark reveals in this pioneering, gripping history, Prussia enjoyed a fascinating, influential, and critical role throughout the world.

by graf Leo Tolstoy

Often called the greatest novel ever written, War and Peace is at once an epic of the Napoleonic Wars, a philosophical study, and a celebration of the Russian spirit. Tolstoy's genius is seen clearly in the multitude of characters in this massive chronicle--all of them fully realized and equally memorable. Out of this complex narrative emerges a profound examination of the individual's place in the historical process, one that makes it clear why Thomas Mann praised Tolstoy for his Homeric powers and placed War and Peace in the same category as the Iliad": " "To read him . . . is to find one's way home . . . to everything within us that is fundamental and sane."