There is no doubt that Leo Tolstoy is one of the most bizarre and contradictory figures in Russian literature. This brilliant writer combined the depth of narrative creativity, the boldness of a philosopher, and, at the same time, a firm religious faith. Upon his return from his famous European journey and his seclusion at his Yasnaya Polyana estate, he radically changed his outlook on life and death, the mission of the writer, and how to achieve social justice in Tsarist Russia, which was groaning under the yoke of serfdom (feudal slavery), which Western Europe had been freed from following the French Revolution of 1789. His letters and diaries are the best record of his intellectual and creative development and the exploration of the material from which he drew the subjects of his novels, stories, and plays, as well as his philosophical studies, particularly on life and death, land ownership, social justice, the arts, and popular education. I saw fit to select letters related to this work and studies, including his letters to the writers Turgenev, Ostrovsky, Gorky, Andreev, Stasov, Chertkov, Romain Rolland, the artists G. and Repin, the composer Tchaikovsky, his letters to Tsar Alexander III and Tsar Nicholas II, and his letters to Bernard Shaw and Mahatma Gandhi. However, his correspondence with some of his well-known contemporaries, including Dostoevsky and Chekhov, is missing. I focused on his social and educational activities in the field of education, the opening of public schools, and his teaching work in them. The main characteristic of Tolstoy's literature is his keenness to portray characters and events truthfully and in detail. This is reflected in his extensive correspondence with various figures and official circles to obtain archival materials related to his writings. This is evident from his observation of historical events, personalities, and details of daily life during the Patriotic War of 1812, when he wrote War and Peace, the lives of prisoners when he wrote Resurrection, the memoirs of participants in the Decembrist movement (in a novel that was never written), the lives of Haji Murad and those around him when writing Haji Murad, and other things. For this reason, he sent letters to all relevant people, asking them to provide him with information about these events.