14. The War for Middle-Earth: J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis Confront the Gathering Storm, 1933-1945. Joseph Loconte. 2025. 288 pages. [Source: Review copy] [nonfiction, world war II, literature, 4 stars]
First sentence: The agreement that officially ended the First World War has borne an impossibly heavy burden.
This book is a great fit for readers who
a) have an interest in the INKLINGS--including C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien
b) have an interest in literature past and present
c) enjoy making connections between ideas and concepts found in literature with the real world or perhaps switch those around making connections between the real world and ideas, concepts, themes found in literature
d) have an interest in both the first and second world wars
e) have an interest in sociology and culture of the early to mid twentieth centuries
f) essentially anyone who enjoys diving deep into all the layers of context
I am not sure that I meet all these criteria, but I do have an interest in world war II and I have read some Tolkien and some Lewis. This definitely dives deeper into all the literature aspects. For example, some of the layers of context involve what works, what authors, that Lewis, Tolkien (and perhaps their contemporaries) read at various points of their lives and were influenced by. How did reading x influence author y into writing abc. What themes from book x and y can be seen in the works of author c and d. How does reading these themes, these ideas, these concepts change who readers are, change how they think, how they interpret the world around them.
It was a good read, but, lots of depth.
