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TORn Library contributor Dr Timothy Furnish has just published the first of a two-volume analysis of JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth: High Towers and Strong Places: a Political History of Middle-earth<\/i>.<\/p>\n TORn Library contributor Dr Timothy Furnish has just published the first of a two-volume analysis of JRR Tolkien’s Middle-earth: High Towers and Strong Places: a Political History of Middle-earth<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Furnish applies primary world analysis — political, cultural, social, and economic — to Middle-earth’s 7,000 years of recorded history.<\/p>\n
Steering clear of literary criticism, this book instead uses Tolkien\u2019s writings to examine each of the major races of Middle-earth in some detail. It then delves into how each people\u2019s anthropological traits influenced their political systems.<\/p>\n
In doing so, he compares and contrasts Middle-earth\u2019s many states, from Beleriand and Barad-d\u00fbr to Utumno and Umbar, with primary world examples such as Rome and Byzantium, the Carolingian Empire, and the Islamic caliphates.<\/p>\n
“Everyone know that there is a deep background to Tolkien’s Middle-earth, which is one of the main reasons for its uniqueness. Timothy Furnish’s work brings the politics of Middle-earth out of the background and into sharp focus, demonstrating once again the richness and consistency of Tolkien’s world.” Dr Thomas Shippey.<\/p>\n
“Timothy Furnish’s book is well written, easy to read, and yet also very thought-provoking. He takes an approach which has become unfashionable, and shows triumphantly how much we are mussing through taking too academic a line in our Tolkien scholarship.” Ruth Lewis.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The book, which is available in e-book and softcover, features two cover illustrations and more than 20 interior Tolkien inspired watercolours drawn by Anke Eissmann, as well as maps by Aaren Siddall. <\/p>\n