In Hadji Murat, Tolstoy recounts the extraordinary meeting of two polarized cultures -- the refined, Europeanized court of the Russian tsar and the fierce Muslim chieftains of the Chechnen hills. This brilliant, culturally resonant fiction was written towards the end of Tolstoy's life, but the conflict it describes has obvious, ironic parallels with current affairs today. It is 1852, and Hadji Murat, one of the most feared mountain chiefs, is the scourge of the Russian army. When he comes to surrender, the Russians are delighted. Or have they naively welcomed a double-agent into their midst? With its sardonic portraits -- from the inscrutable Hadji Murat to the fat and bumbling tsa -- Tolstoy's story is an astute and witty commentary on the nature of political relations and states at war.  (RUS383, $13.95)