Revolution of spirit: Henry George, Leo Tolstoy, and the Land Value Tax

This thesis is a transnational intellectual history examining the cultural significance of the unique connection between the philosophies of Henry George, an American economist responsible for the emergence of the Land Value Tax theory in the late nineteenth century, and Leo Tolstoy, the prolific Russian novelist and later radical Christian philosopher of the same era. Using George's economics books and Tolstoy's religious works and fiction as primary sources, this study focuses on George and Tolstoy's theories as to what social conditions are necessary for George's economic principles to gain public acceptance. Central to their theories are the Christian elements that underpin George's economic argument for the Land Value Tax.