And Quiet Flows the Don
Literary reflections of Cossack culture abound in Russian, Ukrainian, and Polish literature, particularly in the works of Nikolai Gogol ("Taras Bulba"), Taras Shevchenko, Mikhail Sholokhov (And Quiet Flows the Don), Henryk Sienkiewicz ("With Fire and Sword"). One of Leo Tolstoy's first novellas, "The Cossacks", depicts their autonomy and estrangement from Moscow and from centralized rule. Many of Isaac Babel's stories (for instance, those in Red Cavalry) depict Cossack soldiers, and were based on Babel's experiences as a war correspondent attached to the 1st Cavalry Army.