Twenty-First-Century Tolkien

Ever since The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien was first published in 1937, the popularity of the vast, imaginative world he created has only increased over time. What is it about Middle-Earth and the characters which populate it that has captured the imaginations of millions of people around the world? Today, there is a vast and growing Tolkien industry, including books, films, games, and a highly anticipated forthcoming TV series, which is being billed as the most expensive ever made.

Twenty-First Century Tolkien explores this phenomenon and investigates why Tolkien’s works still inspire people fifty years after his death. Taking in surprisingly prescient episodes from the original books and later reworkings, and covering such topics as friendship, failure, uncertainty, the environment, the weird and eerie—as well as Tolkien in a post-Covid age—Nick Groom explains his striking relevance for some of the most pressing issues that now confront us, and ultimately reveals why the Tolkien moment really is now.