JRR Tolkien ARCHITECT OF MIDDLE EARTH Daniel Grotta

• ISBN: 0-7624-0956-8
• Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Number 00-135517
• 9 8 7 6 5 4 3
• Dimensions: W 9-1/4" H 10-1/4" D 7/8"

JOHN RONALD REUEL TOLKIEN (1892-1973) author of The Hobbit and The Lord Of The Rings is one of this century's most beloved and enigmatic writers. His highly unusual, imaginative works have sold millions of copies on both sides of the Atlantic, to readers of all ages.

So strikingly original are Tolkien's novels that Tolkien "cults" have sprung up to debate the reality and mythology of Middle Earth, Hobbits, Elves and the power of magic rings.

And yet, surprisingly little is known about the personal life of the creator of Middle Earth.

This man, who was embarrassed by success, lived most of his life as an Oxford scholar in the surrounds of a cloistered academic community.

As a child in South Africa, Tolkien was kidnapped by a native and taken into the bush. As a youngster in the English industrial city of Birmingham, Tolkien was raised by a Catholic priest.

And as a young adult, Tolkien lived through the bloody horror of the trenches of World War 1. How these experiences fired his incredible imagination is just one of the areas that Daniel Grotta tries to uncover.

J.R.R. Tolkien is one of the literary heroes of our generation, and fans of his writing will cherish this fascinating study of his personal history.

DANIEL GROTTA is a journalist and critic whose varied interests take him across the globe. He lives in a small Pennsylvania town with his wife, Sally.