With New Line Cinema's production of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, the popularity of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien is unparalleled. Tolkien's books continue to be bestsellers decades after their original publication.

An epic in league with those of Spenser and Malory, The Lord of the Rings trilogy, begun during Hitler's rise to power, celebrates the insignificant individual as hero in the modern world. Jane Chance’s critical appraisal of Tolkien's heroic masterwork is the first to explore its "mythology of power" -that is, how power, politics, and language interact. Chance looks beyond the fantastic, self-contained world of Middle-earth to the twentieth-century parallels presented in the trilogy.

Jane Chance is a professor of English at Rice University. She is the author of Tolkien's Art and the editor of Tolkien and the Invention of Myth. She lives in Houston, Texas.

Reviews:

"An interesting examination of themes like the value of language and the corrupting effects of a will to power."-(Oshawa, Ont.) Artsforum

"Chance's companion volumes on Tolkien are brilliantly written and critically significant. Her understanding of his works is profound, and she convincingly confirms him as a major writer of the 20th century."-Kritikon Litterarum

"Both provocative and stimulating . . . provides a rewarding exploration of that web of relationships which defines Middle-earth."-Robert A. Collins, Florida Atlantic University

"The author has taken a complex and convoluted masterpiece and dissected it in a clear and concise style. Fans of Tolkien's classic will welcome it."-School Library Journal

"Presents a strong case for Tolkien as a mainstream contemporary writer."-Seven