Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth (📔book)

Ugluk · 2026-11-09T00:25:08-0500

Anyone read this book so I don't have to?

Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth

This book is the first systematic examination of how Tolkien understood racial issues and how race manifests in his oeuvre.

link.springer.com

Deimos · 2026-11-09T08:32:35-0500

With a title like that I don't have to read the book to know that the author is going to pillory The Professor seven ways from Sunday.

Squint-eyed Southerner · 2026-11-09T09:14:15-0500

It's actually a little more nuanced than that, according to a couple of more scholarly reviews:

https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3138&context=mythlore

https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1282&context=journaloftolkienresearch

one of the reviews points out that the author is a historian, rather than a literary critic, which can lead to some blind spots. At $129 from Amazon, I won't be buying it either.

Deimos · 2026-11-09T09:25:09-0500

Squint-eyed Southerner said:
It's actually a little more nuanced than that, according to a couple of more scholarly reviews:

https://dc.swosu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3138&context=mythlore

https://scholar.valpo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1282&context=journaloftolkienresearch

one of the reviews points out that the author is a historian, rather than a literary critic, which can lead to some blind spots. At $129 from Amazon, I won't be buying it either.

Is he maybe a historian afflicted with "presentism"? He wouldn't be the first, junuea...

Squint-eyed Southerner · 2026-11-09T09:51:44-0500

Again, judging from the reviews, he defends Tolkien against charges of racism, but I haven't read it.

Deimos · 2026-11-09T10:50:15-0500

Squint-eyed Southerner said:
Again, judging from the reviews, he defends Tolkien against charges of racism, but I haven't read it.

OK, I stand corrected then.

Tolkien, Race, and Racism in Middle-earth (📔book)

Ugluk

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