Anglophone educationalists have sporadically taken an interest in Tolstoy's educational ‘philosophy’ but they have seldom consulted the writer's thought beyond the 1860s, or explored its intimate relationship with the novelist's creative and spiritual evolution. This book tells the untold story of Tolstoy's life-long interest in education, as revealed in his fiction, non-fiction and social activism. It is argued that Tolstoy's educational works were not a dilettante side-track from his literary career, but an integral part of the development of his literature and wider thought, as well as becoming a vital facet of his mature worldview. After drawing together significant themes from Tolstoy's writings spanning 1852 to 1910, the book evaluates Tolstoy's contribution to educational thought with regards to some of the perennial problems of the philosophy of education, arguing that Tolstoy's views are worthy of consideration by educationists, perhaps more today than in Tolstoy's own lifetime.