An Unofficial 'The Rest Is History' Reading List

226. The Lord of the Rings

September 01, 2022

Description

Written in stages between 1937 and 1949, The Lord of the Rings is one of the best-selling books ever written, with over 150 million copies sold. Join Tom and Dominic in the second of two episodes...
Read more here

Books Referenced

The Hobbit

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Context:

The hosts read the opening passage and discuss this 1937 book as a children's story about Bilbo Baggins going on a quest with dwarves

The Lord of the Rings

Author: J.R.R. Tolkien

Context:

Discussed extensively as the sequel to The Hobbit, commissioned by publisher Stanley Unwin in 1937, taking 17 years to write

King Solomon's Mines

Author: Ryder Haggard

Context:

Mentioned as one of the imperial adventure stories Tolkien read as a boy, written in the mid-1880s, about people going to Africa and discovering lost cities

She

Author: Ryder Haggard

Context:

Mentioned alongside King Solomon's Mines as another of Ryder Haggard's imperial adventure stories from the 1880s that influenced Tolkien

Lord of the Flies

Author: William Golding

Context:

Mentioned as an example of other authors wrestling with questions about evil and power in the mid-20th century, written in the middle of the 1950s

Four Quartets

Author: T.S. Eliot

Context:

Discussed in connection with Little Gidding, comparing Eliot's imagery of air raids and the blowing of horns to similar imagery in Lord of the Rings

Little Gidding

Author: T.S. Eliot

Context:

Specifically quoted passage about a ghostly figure during an air raid, compared to Tolkien's description of the Nazgul attack and the horns of Rohan

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Author: C.S. Lewis

Context:

Mentioned as contrast to Lord of the Rings, noting that people criticize Lewis's book as pure Christian apologetics while Tolkien's Christianity is more subtle

Beowulf

Author: Unknown

Context:

Mentioned as Tolkien's great academic obsession, with the character Gollum compared to Grendel from this Old English epic

There and Back Again

Author: Matthew Lyons

Context:

Described as a fabulous book where the author follows in Tolkien's footsteps, revealing details like how Tolkien's first draft included a chocolate factory being built in the Shire

Exodus

Author: Anonymous (Biblical)

Context:

Mentioned as a book Tolkien translated which portrays Moses as a great warrior, referenced in discussion of how Tolkien drew on Old English poetry