For anyone who has read “The Lord of the Rings,” or seen Peter Jackson’s magnificent film adaptations, the last installment of which is in a multiplex near you, it is startlingly apparent that J.R.R. Tolkien’s great work is consumed with war and battle. Though set in a mythical, far-off place in a time long ago, Tolkien’s books nonetheless have an eerie feel for distinctly modern terrors. [More]