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Tolkien: A Biography
 
 

Tolkien: A Biography (Paperback)

~ Michael J. White (Author), Michael White (Author) "Professor John Ronald Reuel Tolkien is pedalling fast and he can feel the sweat under his collar..." (more)
Key Phrases: new hobbit, entire mythology, The Silmarillion, Father Francis, Stanley Unwin (more...)
2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)

Price: $20.00 & eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25. Details
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  • This item: Tolkien: A Biography by Michael J. White

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  • J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography by Humphrey Carpenter

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

A comprehensive, authoritative, in depth and entertaining biography of one of the greatest and most influential fantasy authors in modern time, J.R.R. Tolkien.

In this informed an entertaining account, renowned biographer Michael White delves into the little-known life of one of the most treasured and enduring authors of our time, J.R.R. Tolkien.

In absorbing and revealing detail, White describes Tolkien's life -- from his childhood years and the tragic early death of his parents; his burgeoning romance with Edith Brett; fighting on the front lines in WWII; his many years as an Oxford academic, where the idea of the Hobbit struck him while marking a term paper; to his friendship with C.S. Lewis and the founding of the group "The Inklings"; and why The Lord of the Rings became the most influential book in the late sixties counter-culture, one of the most respected and most-read trilogies ever written, and the center of a major film phenomenon.

With 16 pages of black and white photos.


About the Author

Michael White has been a science editor of British GQ, a columnist for the Sunday Express in London and, in a previous incarnation, he was a member of the Thompson Twins (1982).

Between 1984 and 1991 he was a science lecturer at d'Overbroeck's College in Oxford before becoming a full-time writer. He is the author of more than twenty books.

Product Details

  • Paperback: 292 pages
  • Publisher: NAL Trade (November 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0451212428
  • ISBN-13: 978-0451212429
  • Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 2.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #104,746 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

10 Reviews
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 (4)
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Average Customer Review
2.8 out of 5 stars (10 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars A ripoff of other, better biographies, October 19, 2005
This biography is a highly commercialized ripoff. Avoid this. Humphrey Carpenter's definitive, authorized biography is vastly superior.

As far as I can tell, this book was written solely to capitalize on Tolkien's popularity. The introductory material makes clear that the author, White, wrote this with no independent knowledge of Tolkien's life. He admits that before starting this, he hadn't even read the Lord of the Rings since being a teenager. This book was written for one reason: to take your $$$$$.

If you're familiar with Carpenter's authorized biography, it quickly becomes apparent that this author has simply rearranged the material from Carpenter's book. The only information not lifted from Carptenter, from what I could discern, is a few bits lifted from another source: Tom Shippley's literary analysis of Tolkien. A wrinkle in the copyright laws (which gives less protection to biographies than to works of fiction) allows this sort of thing to happen. In schools everywhere, there's another name for it, which begins with a "p."

Moreover, Carpenter's biography is far stronger. Carpenter had access to Tolkien's papers, had met Tolkien, and studied at Oxford. He has also penned a biography on C.S. Lewis and the other Inklings. White, on the other hand, apparently had access only to Carpenter's biography; there is no evidence he did any independent research. Further still, Carpenter's authorized biography is charming and a pleasurable read, but this copycat version doesn't even offer that. And Carpenter's biography is only 250 pages, so this turkey isn't even more concise. Don't get suckered by this....









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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Advised against., February 12, 2006
By Murray N. Dovey (Melbourne AUS) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
I wouldn't call this book biography. It's more a sort of "imaginative memoir"; where the author `recreates' his subject's life (including being privy to his thoughts and emotional states) as a way of padding out his meagre research. It's also marked by glib generalizations, facile writing, and persistent illiteracy. Save your money.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars Michael White's misunderstandings, January 14, 2004
By A Customer
White frequently attempts to make vivid and interesting things he knows nothing about. Thus, he describes Tolkien's gruelling introductory training in the British army and the intense preparatory training for trench warfare at Etaples as "idle time." He also writes that at Etaples, soldiers had little to worry about aside from mines and snipers. In fact, Etaples was so far from the front that neither of these endangered the troops there. White, moreover, describes soldiers greasing their bayonets as they moved in trains toward the fighting. In fact, the bayonets were oiled. Some reading of the standard British Great War memoirs by Sassoon and Graves, who served in the trenches, would have kept White from his egregious mistakes.

See the amazon.canada reviews for further exposure of White's many errors.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Ok book but not all true
Just a short review of the book : while I did like the book and it was a fast read, I had trouble with some of the stuff being said. Read more
Published 15 days ago by Anne

1.0 out of 5 stars Opportunistic, inaccurate and lazy...

As a number of the other reviewers have noted, this book was all-too-obviously written to cash in on the "Tolkien craze" attendant to the release of Peter Jackson's movies... Read more
Published 17 months ago by H. Grace

4.0 out of 5 stars The man behind Middle Earth
Over 100 million copies of the Lord of the Rings and 60 million copies of the Hobbit have been sold around the world. Read more
Published on February 24, 2007 by Gary Selikow

4.0 out of 5 stars interesting
I thought the book, being short, was well done. I'm not a tolkien, the man, fan, myself, I just like the books he wrote. Read more
Published on January 13, 2005 by samofborg

5.0 out of 5 stars Quick down and dirty on Tolkien
Have you read and re-read LOTR over the years, purchased all of the movies but don't know much about JRR Tolkien's background and personal life? Read more
Published on January 13, 2004

4.0 out of 5 stars Short and concise
I read this book in just one day, wanting to know more about Tolkien. The chapters are all interestig. Read more
Published on December 28, 2003 by M. D. Fonseca

4.0 out of 5 stars Skye Rockets
I'm a major Tolkien fan, thanks to my dad, and I thought reading this book would be a great way to learn more about Tolkien's life and what influenced his writing and ideas. Read more
Published on November 14, 2003 by skyerockets

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