SKU: 84088488661

Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-Earth

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Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-Earth* TOLKIEN * Now a major motion picture * Acclaimed as "the best book about J. R. R. Tolkien" (A. N. Wilson), this award winning biography explores J. R. R. Tolkien's wartime experiences and their impact on his life and his writing of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings. "To be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than in 1939 . . . By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead." So J. R. R. Tolkien responded to critics who

* TOLKIEN * Now a major motion picture *

Acclaimed as "the best book about J.R.R. Tolkien" (A. N. Wilson), this award-winning biography explores J.R.R. Tolkien's wartime experiences and their impact on his life and his writing of The Hobbit and The Lord of The Rings.

"To be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than in 1939 . . . By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead."
So J.R.R. Tolkien responded to critics who saw The Lord of the Rings as a reaction to the Second World War. Tolkien and the Great War tells for the first time the full story of how he embarked on the creation of Middle-earth in his youth as the world around him was plunged into catastrophe. This biography reveals the horror and heroism that he experienced as a signals officer in the Battle of the Somme and introduces the circle of friends who spurred his mythology to life. It shows how, after two of these brilliant young men were killed, Tolkien pursued the dream they had all shared by launching his epic of good and evil.
John Garth argues that the foundation of tragic experience in the First World War is the key to Middle-earth's enduring power. Tolkien used his mythic imagination not to escape from reality but to reflect and transform the cataclysm of his generation. While his contemporaries surrendered to disillusionment, he kept enchantment alive, reshaping an entire literary tradition into a form that resonates to this day.
This is the first substantially new biography of Tolkien since 1977, meticulously researched and distilled from his personal wartime papers and a multitude of other sources.

"Very much the best book about J.R.R. Tolkien that has yet been written." -- A. N. Wilson

"A highly intelligent book . . . Garth displays impressive skills both as researcher and writer." -- Max Hastings

"It is a strange story that Garth tells, but he tells it clearly and compellingly." -- Tom Shippey

"Somewhere, I think, Tolkien is nodding in appreciation." -- Charles Matthews, San Jose Mercury News

"Gripping from start to finish and offers important new insights." -- Library Journal

"A labor of love in which journalist Garth combines a newsman's nose for a good story with a scholar's scrupulous attention to detail . . . Brilliantly argued." -- Daily Mail

"Insight into how a writer turned academia into art, how deeply friendship supports and wounds us, and how the death and disillusionment that characterized World War I inspired Tolkien's lush saga." -- Detroit Free Press

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Mariner Books
Published: 06/01/2005
ISBN: 9780618574810
Pages: 398
Weight: 0.95lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 1.30d

Review Citations: Ingram Advance 06/01/2005 pg. 59
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SKU: 84088488661

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Rachel
Cuba, US
★★★★★ 5
Amazing
Format: Paperback
It’s very academic—what I mean by that is that if you need to be well-educated in psychology to GRASP *everything*… I am not well-educated in psychology (I minored in it and love reading easier books on it), but I LOVE this book. This woman is brilliant
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Reviewed in the United States on March 24, 2024
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Autumn S
Lexington, US
★★★★★ 5
one of the best books I’ve read
Format: Kindle
This book is transformative in how I view everything. There are two categories: people who need to read this book and people who need to read it again.
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Reviewed in the United States on April 15, 2023
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Erin T
Birmingham, US
★★★★★ 5
Started w/ audiobook, now I'm ordering the print too
Format: Paperback
This book is GREAT!! The integration of theory she uses to support her claims is masterful. I began listening to the audiobook, because it was cheaper & I go through a ton of counseling & psych books. I am a grad student in social work, and I'm also a therapy client trying to heal myself. I appreciate that this book targets "chronic shame" which as a central experience to a bunch of issues. The hundreds of books and articles I've researched seem like they were mostly ALL working back to this issue. In a psychology culture that is big on cognitive and chemical solutions to mental health, the relational approach that she emphasizes is critical to the healing process. I appreciate the research she uses from object relations, affect regulation, interpersonal, etc. I purchased the hard copy because 1. I can't underline/highlight an audiobook and 2. I want a copy of the references of theorists and study's that she draws from, because they are pure gold. All therapists need to understand the contents of this book! Unless you are perfectly fine offering band aid solutions. Clients and self-helpers beware. It's not triggering in terms of content, it is activating in the sense that she describes the felt experience of shame SO WELL. I could locate my own felt sense of shame which is, by default, unpleasant. Some stabilization and a decent therapeutic connection is probably necessary before cracking this book open. But that's why I love it. I needed to go deeper and get the core issues. And this book is like a map that guides you right to it.
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Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2025
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MM
Carnegie, US
★★★★★ 5
A must read.
Format: Audiobook
The best book I have read in a very long time. Transformative. I am slowly processing my new understanding of my relational trauma so well detailed in this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on October 4, 2024
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Amazon Customer
Birmingham, US
★★★★★ 5
Critical read
Format: Paperback
We read this for a class in grad school and it's something I reference back to time and again. Really important read and will be something I reference often.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 20, 2024

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