Notes
Tolkien: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings, a study of the writings of J.R.R. Tolkien by Lin Carter, updated and expanded by Adam Roberts.

The original edition was published in 1969.

Publisher's Blurb – Lower Cover
An overview of Tolkien's masterpiece and a wide ranging introduction to the myths and legends it springs from.

Written by one of the leading editors and critics in the field and now fully revised and updated for this edition by Adam Roberts, Reader in English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London and award nominated SF author.

Publisher's Blurb – Front Jacket Flap
Lin Carter's TOLKIEN: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings introduces readers to Tolkien's epic trilogy, then takes them on a scholarly yet populist journey through the massive web of myths and legends that Tolkien drew on for both imagery and themes during his life's work.

Carter's rich and entertaining book places the trilogy in the context of world mythology and legend and is a tribute to Tolkien's power of assimilation and original vision.

TOLKIEN: A Look Behind The Lord of the Rings has now been revised and updated by Adam Roberts, Reader in English Literature at Royal Holloway, University of London and an award nominated SF writer in his own right. It is an enchanted tour of the heroic sagas, the epic myths and the great tales that became a source and inspiration to the author of the novel voted the Book of the 20th century.

This is the ideal companion volume to The Lord of the Rings.

Publisher's Blurb – Rear Jacket Flap
Lin Carter was the pre-eminent American editor and critic of the fantasy genre. He both conceived and oversaw the Ballantine Adult Fantasy list which was instrumental in creating fantasy as a modern genre and bringing to renewed popular attention writers such as Lord Dunsany, H.P. Lovecraft and Clark Ashton Smith.

Adam Roberts is the author of a number of academic works and the critically acclaimed SF novels SALT, ON, STONE and POLYSTOM.