J. R. R. Tolkien

Tolkien did not, at least initially, write for a mass audience. Yet for many in the 1960s his books, particularly Lord of the Rings, became a political badge and an interpretative text. Widely translated, his fiction won the accolade both of parody and of its own learned journal; rock bands took names from his characters; and Tolkien - or how he was read - demonstrably affected modern fantasy, in writing, film, video- and board-game. This book explores how his work came to be so diversely received.