Tolkien and the Great War
The Threshold of Middle-earth
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Narrated by:
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John Garth
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By:
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John Garth
About this listen
“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.
©2011 John Garth (P)2011 HarperCollins Publishers LimitedListeners also enjoyed...
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- By Paul C. White on 08-17-10
By: Evan Thomas
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The Long Way Home
- An American Journey from Ellis Island to the Great War
- By: David Laskin
- Narrated by: Erik Synnestvedt
- Length: 13 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The United States has always been a nation of immigrants---never more so than in 1917 when the nation entered the First World War. Of the 2.5 million soldiers who fought with U.S. armed forces in the trenches of France and Belgium, some half a million---nearly one out of every five men---were immigrants. In The Long Way Home, David Laskin, author of the prizewinning history The Children's Blizzard, tells the stories of 12 of these immigrant heroes.
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Incredible story of immigration and war
- By Daryl on 01-06-14
By: David Laskin
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The Man Who Loved China
- By: Simon Winchester
- Narrated by: Simon Winchester
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
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No cloistered don, this tall, married Englishman was a freethinking intellectual, who practiced nudism and was devoted to a quirky brand of folk dancing. In 1937, while working as a biochemist at Cambridge University, he instantly fell in love with a visiting Chinese student, with whom he began a lifelong affair. He soon became fascinated with China, and his mistress swiftly persuaded the ever-enthusiastic Needham to travel to her home country, where he embarked on a series of extraordinary expeditions to the farthest frontiers of this ancient empire.
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turn your watch back 70 years
- By Andy on 05-22-08
By: Simon Winchester
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Passchendaele
- Requiem for Doomed Youth
- By: Paul Ham
- Narrated by: Robert Meldrum
- Length: 17 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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From Paul Ham, winner of the NSW Premier's Prize for Australian History, comes the story of ordinary men in the grip of a political and military power struggle that determined their fate and has foreshadowed the destiny of the world for a century. Passchendaele epitomises everything that was most terrible about the Western Front. The photographs never sleep of this four-month battle, fought from July to November 1917, the worst year of the war.
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Very compelling - good story, good narration
- By DPM on 11-25-16
By: Paul Ham
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Rites of Spring
- The Great War and the Birth of the Modern Age
- By: Modris Eksteins
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 14 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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Dazzling in its originality, Rites of Spring probes the origins, impact, and aftermath of World War I from the premiere of Stravinsky's ballet "The Rite of Spring" in 1913 to the death of Hitler in 1945. "The Great War", as Modris Eksteins writes, "was the psychological turning point...for modernism as a whole. The urge to create and the urge to destroy had changed places."
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Fantastic
- By Anonymous User on 11-17-17
By: Modris Eksteins
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Silent Night
- The Remarkable 1914 Christmas Truce
- By: Stanley Weintraub
- Narrated by: Edward Holland
- Length: 5 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
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In the beginning months of World War I, a very strange thing happened. After the fierce trench warfare of November and December, on Christmas Eve, 1914, the fighting spontaneously stopped. Men on both sides laid down their arms and came to celebrate Christmas with each other. They shared food parcels across the lines, sang carols together, and erected Christmas trees with candles. They buried the dead, exchanged presents, and even played soccer together.
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Everyone should know this history
- By DARBY KERN on 12-08-23
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His Father's Son
- The Life of General Ted Roosevelt Jr.
- By: Tim Brady
- Narrated by: Paul Boehmer
- Length: 12 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the story of Theodore Roosevelt Jr., a fortunate son who proved himself on the battlefields of two world wars. General Omar Bradley said of him, "I have never known a braver man or a more devoted soldier." But for much of his life, Theodore Roosevelt's son Ted seemed born to live in his father's shadow. With the same wide smile, winning charm, and vigorous demeanor, Ted possessed limitless potential, with even the White House within his reach.
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The son of a hero is a hero himself
- By Rafa on 01-26-24
By: Tim Brady
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The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Volume I: Visions of Glory 1874-1932
- By: William Manchester
- Narrated by: Frederick Davidson
- Length: 41 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Winston Churchill is perhaps the most important political figure of the 20th century. His great oratory and leadership during the Second World War were only part of his huge breadth of experience and achievement. Studying his life is a fascinating way to imbibe the history of his era and gain insight into key events that have shaped our time.
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Superb - Review of Both Volume I & Volume II
- By Wolfpacker on 01-23-09
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Patton
- Blood, Guts, and Prayer
- By: Michael Keane
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
- Unabridged
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No one in the history of warfare was less likely to follow that advice than George S. Patton, Jr. His place was in front of his men, and he paid the price, when he lay bleeding to death in a bomb crater in France. Patton’s survival that day at the end of World War I was nothing short of miraculous. It confirmed the powerful sense of destiny that guided him through three decades of war and made him a military legend. Patton has been venerated and despised but rarely understood. In Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer, Michael Keane penetrates the fog of legend and reveals as compelling a human character as any in American history.
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A different view of Patton
- By Jean on 06-19-13
By: Michael Keane
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I Am Dynamite!
- A Life of Nietzsche
- By: Sue Prideaux
- Narrated by: Nicholas Guy Smith
- Length: 17 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Nietzsche wrote that all philosophy is autobiographical, and in this vividly compelling, myth-shattering biography, Sue Prideaux brings listeners into the world of this brilliant, eccentric, and deeply troubled man, illuminating the events and people that shaped his life and work. I Am Dynamite! is the essential biography for anyone seeking to understand history's most misunderstood philosopher.
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Fascinating; tragic
- By Cineaste21 on 12-30-18
By: Sue Prideaux
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Trail of Hope
- The Anders Army, an Odyssey Across Three Continents
- By: Norman Davies
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
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In this remarkable work, renowned historian Professor Norman Davies draws from years of meticulous research to recount the compelling story of the Polish II Corps or "Anders Army", and their exceptional journey from the Gulag of Siberia through Iran, the Middle East, and North Africa to the battlefields of Italy to fight shoulder-to-shoulder with Allied forces. Complete with firsthand accounts from the men and women who lived through it, this is a unique record of one of the most fascinating episodes of World War II.
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Amazing story of Polish peoples and never giving up hope for free Poland.
- By Peter Chmiel on 09-24-19
By: Norman Davies
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My Fellow Soldiers
- General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War
- By: Andrew Carroll
- Narrated by: Andrew Carroll
- Length: 11 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Andrew Carroll's intimate portrait of General Pershing, who led all of the American troops in Europe during World War I, is a revelation. Given a military force that on the eve of its entry into the war was downright primitive compared to the European combatants, the general surmounted enormous obstacles to build an army and ultimately command millions of US soldiers. But Pershing himself - often perceived as a harsh, humorless, and wooden leader - concealed inner agony from those around him.
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Don’t pass this up
- By PineappleSmoothy on 03-29-18
By: Andrew Carroll
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The White War
- Life and Death on the Italian Front, 1915-1919
- By: Mark Thompson
- Narrated by: Gerard Doyle
- Length: 19 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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The Western Front dominates our memories of the First World War. Yet a million and half men died in northeast Italy in a war that need never have happened, when Italy declared war on the Habsburg Empire in May 1915. Led by General Luigi Cadorna, the most ruthless of all the Great War commanders, waves of Italian conscripts were sent charging up the limestone hills north of Trieste to be massacred by troops fighting to save their homelands.
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An indispensable contribution
- By Adeliese Baumann on 12-27-17
By: Mark Thompson
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The First World War laid waste to a continent and brought about the end of innocence — and the end of faith. Unlike a generation of young writers who lost faith in the God of the Bible, however, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis found that the Great War deepened their spiritual quest. Both men served as soldiers on the Western Front, survived the trenches, and used the experience of that conflict to ignite their Christian imagination.
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A great find for any Inkling fan
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J.R.R. Tolkien's creations, imagination, and characters captured the attention of millions of readers. But who was the man who dreamt up the intricate languages and perfectly crafted world of Middle-earth? Tolkien had a difficult life, for many years: orphaned and poor, his guardian forbade him to communicate with the woman he had fallen in love with, and he went through the horrors of the First World War. An intensely private and brilliant scholar, he spent over 50 years working on the languages, history, peoples, and geography of Middle-earth,
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Very insightful
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The Homecoming of Beorhtnoth Beorhthelm’s Son was originally published in the 1953 edition of Essays and Studies. In December of that year, J.R.R. Tolkien took possession of a reel-to-reel tape recorder and, some time during the first few months of 1954, decided to record ‘the whole thing on tape’ as a way of ‘testing’ the performative quality of the dramatic dialogue between Tídwald and Torhthelm.
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Short sweet and to the point
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J. R. R. Tolkien was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor best known as the author of fantasy works like "The Hobbit" and "Lord of the Rings." Listen as Tolkien reads "The Adventures of Tom Bombadil," "The Hoard," "Perry-The-Winkle," and "The Man in the Moon Came Down Too Soon." Also included is a reading of "A Elbereth Gilthoniel" in Elvish and "The Road Goes Ever on," sung by William Elvin with music by Donald Swann.
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Not all Tolkien - wish I'd noticed that
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A great find for any Inkling fan
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Very insightful
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Not all Tolkien - wish I'd noticed that
- By Tracet on 04-21-15
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Tales from the Perilous Realm
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Combined into one volume, this is the definitive collection of Tolkien's five acclaimed modern classic 'fairie' tales in the vein of The Hobbit, read by Derek Jacobi. The five tales are written with the same skill, quality and charm that made The Hobbit a classic. Largely overlooked because of their short lengths, they are joined here in one volume which reaffirms Tolkien's place as a master storyteller for listeners young and old.
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Enjoyable Tolkien short stories
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By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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The Modern Scholar: Tolkien and the West
- Recovering the Lost Tradition of Europe
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The works of J.R.R. Tolkien are quite possibly the most widely read pieces of literature written in the 20th century. But as Professor Michael Drout illuminates in this engaging course of lectures, Tolkien's writings are built upon a centuries-old literary tradition that developed in Europe and is quite uniquely Western in its outlook and style. Drout explores how that tradition still resonates with us to this day, even if many Modernist critics would argue otherwise. He begins the course with the allegory of a tower....
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Not Drout's or Modern Scholar's Best
- By Amy on 01-28-13
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The Fellowship
- The Literary LIves of the Inklings: J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Owen Barfield, Charles Williams
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C. S. Lewis is the 20th century's most widely read Christian writer and J. R. R. Tolkien its most beloved mythmaker. For three decades they and their closest associates formed a literary club known as the Inklings, which met weekly in Lewis' Oxford rooms and a nearby pub. They read aloud from works in progress, argued about anything that caught their fancy, and gave one another invaluable companionship, inspiration, and criticism.
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If You Love Literature...
- By Ray M on 07-14-16
By: Philip Zaleski, and others
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The Fall of Númenor
- And Other Tales from the Second Age of Middle-Earth
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J.R.R. Tolkien famously described the Second Age of Middle-earth as a ‘dark age, and not very much of its history is (or need be) told’. And for many years readers would need to be content with the tantalizing glimpses of it found within the pages of The Lord of the Rings and its appendices, including the forging of the Rings of Power, the building of the Barad-dûr and the rise of Sauron.
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A dry compilation of old material, minus images
- By SC on 11-12-22
By: J.R.R. Tolkien, and others
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Why We Love Middle-earth
- An Enthusiast's Book About Tolkien, Middle-earth, and the LotR Fandom
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Learn about the man who wrote The Lord of the Rings in this Middle-earth treasury. Full of answers to common questions about Middle-earth and the fandom, this book about Tolkien celebrates Why We Love Middle-earth.
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Obvious that the authors speak from the heart when talking about Tolkien!
- By amie on 06-09-24
By: Shawn E Marchese, and others
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Exploring J.R.R. Tolkien's 'The Hobbit'
- By: Corey Olsen
- Narrated by: Corey Olsen
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The Hobbit is one of the most widely read and best-loved books of the 20th century. Now Professor Corey Olsen takes listeners deep within the text to uncover its secrets and delights. Chapter by chapter, he reveals the stories within the story: the dark desires of dwarves and the sublime laughter of elves, the nature of evil and its hopelessness, the mystery of divine providence and human choice, and, most of all, the transformation within the life of Bilbo Baggins.
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Appreciation, Not Dissection
- By Troy on 05-09-15
By: Corey Olsen
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Roverandom
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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While on holiday in 1925, four-year-old Michael Tolkien lost his beloved toy dog on the beach at Filey in Yorkshire. To console him, his father, J.R.R. Tolkien, improvised a story about Rover, a real dog who is magically transformed into a toy and is forced to seek out the wizard who wronged him in order to be returned to normal. This charming tale, peopled by a sand-sorcerer and a terrible dragon, by the king of the sea and the Man-in-the-Moon, went through several drafts over the years.
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An Entertaining Canine Fairy Tale
- By Jefferson on 09-05-10
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
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A Hobbit Journey
- Discovering the Enchantment of J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth
- By: Matthew Dickerson
- Narrated by: Alan Sklar
- Length: 12 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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The Lord of the Rings trilogy has delighted millions of fans worldwide in book and movie form. With the theatrical release of the two-part film The Hobbit slated for 2012 and 2013, attention will once again turn to J. R. R. Tolkien's classic works. In a culture where truth is relative and morality is viewed as old-fashioned, we welcome the chance to view the world through hobbit eyes: we have free will, our choices matter, and living a morally heroic life is possible....
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Tediously going over his points again & again
- By Alan Rither on 12-19-12
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A World Undone
- The Story of the Great War, 1914 to 1918
- By: G. J. Meyer
- Narrated by: Robin Sachs
- Length: 27 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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On a summer day in 1914, a nineteen-year-old Serbian nationalist gunned down Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo. While the world slumbered, monumental forces were shaken. In less than a month, a combination of ambition, deceit, fear, jealousy, missed opportunities, and miscalculation sent Austro-Hungarian troops marching into Serbia, German troops streaming toward Paris, and a vast Russian army into war, with England as its ally. As crowds cheered their armies on, no one could guess what lay ahead in the First World War.
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A great book!
- By Jodi Bernard on 07-11-23
By: G. J. Meyer
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The Fall of Gondolin
- By: Christopher Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
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Gondolin, beautiful but undiscoverable, is central to the enmity of two of the greatest powers in the world. Morgoth of the uttermost evil seeks in vain to discover the marvellously hidden city of his Elven enemies, while the gods in Valinor refuse to support Ulmo Lord of Waters' designs to protect it. Into this world comes Tuor, cousin of Túrin, and guided unseen by Ulmo he sets out on the fearful journey to Gondolin to warn them of their coming doom.
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Feels like a research paper
- By D. Limback on 03-18-20
By: Christopher Tolkien, and others
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Unfinished Tales
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien, Christopher Tolkien - editor
- Narrated by: Timothy West, Samuel West
- Length: 21 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
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Unfinished Tales is a collection of narratives ranging in time from the Elder Days of Middle-earth to the end of the War of the Ring and provides those who have read The Lord of the Rings with a whole collection of background and new stories from the 20th century’s most acclaimed popular author.
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Great, but read all the reviews.
- By Ross on 07-09-21
By: J. R. R. Tolkien, and others
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Letters from Father Christmas
- By: J. R. R. Tolkien
- Narrated by: Derek Jacobi, John Moffatt, Christian Rodska
- Length: 2 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Can you imagine writing to Father Christmas and actually getting a reply? Every year, the children of J.R.R. Tolkien would write to Father Christmas, and the letters they received told wonderful stories of his adventures at the North Pole. These humorous tales are brought to life by Derek Jacobi as Father Christmas, John Moffatt as Polar Bear, and Christian Rodska as Ilbereth the Elf, complete with specially composed music.
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A fun little read.
- By James on 06-30-14
By: J. R. R. Tolkien
What listeners say about Tolkien and the Great War
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Go Steelers
- 09-16-23
Enlightening for anyone who loves Lord of the Rings
This book has a laser focus on JRR Tolkien’s youth, his early friendships and his service in World War I. The author examines those alongside his writings from that period, in which elements of the Rings saga begin to appear. He does not stray much beyond those topics, so if you are looking for an examination of, say, how Tolkien’s Catholic faith is subtly woven into the stories, you will need to look elsewhere.
This book goes into depth and detail on his early writings, an overview which could be overwhelming in places for those who are unfamiliar with the Silmarillion opus, but those readers should still find this book worthwhile. It delineates war experiences that profoundly shaped the worldview of TLOTR (and I found the insight on Sam Gamgee particularly interesting). It also looks at writings that are mostly unknown today, but that reveal a more whimsical fantasy universe than the one that ultimately emerged in the Silmarillion.
Although I have loved TLOTR since the 70s, I came across this book while searching for reading to prepare for a tour of World War I battlefields. I would commend it as a valuable introduction to anyone who wants to understand that experience from an ordinary soldier’s perspective. I found particularly valuable the author’s comparison of TLOTR with other post-war literature, in which he indicated that many soldiers were deeply offended by widely accepted view that there had been nothing heroic or redeeming in their service.
In short, this book makes a multifaceted contribution to understanding both Tolkien and the impact of World War I.
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- Anonymous User
- 08-04-19
Finally understood Tolkien movie
Well written and researched for non-LOTR experts. Perspective on WW1 relevance today is critical for fans.
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- Culpie
- 12-11-16
Enjoyed the insight
Very interesting to get a deeper look into the great War and it's effect on JRR. Very much enjoyed this book!
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- J. Matthew Melton
- 05-29-15
A touching and revealing narrative
John Garth's reading of his book strikes perfect notes in the moving story of Tolkien and the other brilliant young minds who went to war in 1914. The fall of each of his friends resounds and echoes in Tolkien's own heartrending creations. Garth's recounting of the intimate details of how the War experience shaped Tolkien's work is itself a work of painstaking craftsmanship. His reading is remarkably suited to his subject. Superb.
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- Justa Guy
- 03-13-23
Moving
This book moved me nearly to tears for men who have been dead more than a hundred years, and moved me to rage at those who wasted so much of Europe for nothing. I learned to appreciate Tolkien in new ways.
Generally, I’m leery of authors who read their own work. Rare indeed is one both an excellent writer and reader both. John Garth is an exception. Listen to the sample to see what I mean.
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- Anonymous User
- 01-16-24
A fascinating insight!
Excellent biography, focused on the war years, though John Garth also does a good job of contextualising the 1914-1918 period and walking the reader (or listener— the audiobook is very well produced, read by the author himself!) through Tolkien’s creation and the history of Middle-Earth, as it relates to Tolkien’s life.
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- Wes
- 04-26-18
I enjoyed every minute!
Part biography. Part literary analysis. John Garth is a brilliant scholar. He has a deep understanding of Tolkien and his scholarship and literature.
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- Katie Archambeault
- 08-06-18
Tolkien and the Great War
An enlightening read into the life and and experiences of Tolkien. It is well worth your time to read this and to have a greater appreciation for his works.
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- bruce kittrick
- 07-26-23
Depth. Insight. Many thanks
This serious study helps me understand why Tolkien had such a huge influence on my generation. It capsulizes the view of the uselessness of war contrasted with the deep recognition that to live a good life one must fight evil. Reminds me of a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna.
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- E.F.B.
- 08-03-18
Excellent biography!
Note: I decided to pair the physical copy of this book with the audio version and found reading and listening at the same time was very helpful in keeping my focus and helping me progress through this book without getting slowed down or distracted. The author of the book actually narrates the audiobook, which is something I always really enjoy.
An excellent read for this Tolkien fan!
This being non-fiction, and me not reading non-fiction nearly as much as fiction, I’m always a little unsure how to write my review. I guess I’ll start by saying that I thought it was very well-written, well-researched, well-paced, and interesting enough that I never once got bored or wanted to skip ahead even though I already knew some of the information being conveyed. There were some new things too, though, such as more details about the TCBS (a close-knit group of friends and writing critique partners Tolkien was a part of in his college days) than I ever knew before and enjoyed learning. I also loved that the author included excerpts of Tolkien’s poetry where appropriate to make points and show how Tolkien’s writings developed over time, and I very much enjoyed reading them and discovering his inspiration for them.
Overall, this was a highly enjoyable non-fiction read for me and I happily give it 5 stars.
I would recommend this book both to long time Tolkien fans who are curious about his life, especially his experiences in WWI and their influence on his writings, and to people who are new fans, or maybe not even fans at all, but are still curious about this well-known person and his life. You don’t necessarily have to have read any, much less all of Tolkien’s works in order to get something from this book (though knowing at least some of his works will certainly add depth to what you learn here) as the author tells the audience just as much as is needed in order to show what he’s wanting to show.
Content advisory: I personally would recommend this book for ages 12+ simply because of how intellectual it is and the fact that, unless they were very curious and at an advanced reading level, children younger than that simply probably wouldn’t be interested in a book like this or be able to fully comprehend it to appreciate it. Otherwise, there is very little content of concern for younger readers.
Language: One instance of the word d****d in a brief quote from Tolkien. I don’t recall any other swear words.
Violence: There is talk of war and combat throughout, but the author keeps it very matter-of-fact, never going into icky detail, while still communicating what happened in various battles and such.
Worldviews: Again, the author simply reports the facts and doesn’t give his own opinion on things.
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7 people found this helpful