Tolkien

J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpieces, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings, are among the most beloved books published in the twentieth century. And Tolkien's mythology has informed popular entertainment across all media-from television's Star Trek to Led Zeppelin's lyrics to the good versus evil themes of the Star Wars films. Now his influence carries on into the twenty-first century with the magical whimsy of Harry Potter. Tolkien: A Biography presents the man behind the myth. This fascinating and poignant portrait of Middle-earth's creator reveals the author's early childhood, tainted by the tragic deaths of his parents; the horrors he experienced as a soldier in the trenches of World War I; his career as one of England's most prominent scholars in the halls of Oxford University; his friendship with fellow author C.S. Lewis and the founding of the Inklings group; how The Lord of the Rings was usurped by the 1960s counterculture movement only to bestow unwanted wealth and fame upon Tolkien-and how, three decades after his death, his greatest work was translated into a trilogy of blockbuster films converting new fans to an ever-increasing legion of devotees.White, Michael is the author of 'Tolkien', published 2003 under ISBN 9780451212429 and ISBN 0451212428.