The Hobbit Party: The Vision of Freedom that Tolkien Got, and the West Forgot [Hardcover]

Anyone who has readThe HobbitandThe Lord of the Ringscan gather that their author hated tyranny, but few know that the novelist who once described himself as a hobbit in all but size waseven by hobbit standardsa zealous proponent of economic freedom and small government. There is a growing concern among many that the West is sliding into political, economic, and moral bankruptcy. In his beloved novels of Middle-Earth, J.R.R. Tolkien has drawn us a map to freedom.

Scholar Joseph Pearce, who himself has written articles and chapters on the political significance of Tolkiens work, testified in his bookLiterary Giants, Literary Catholics, If much has been written on the religious significance ofThe Lord of the Rings, less has been written on its political significanceand the little that has been written is often erroneous in its conclusions and ignorant of Tolkiens intentions&. Much more work is needed in this area, not least because Tolkien stated, implicitly at least, that the political significance of the work was second only to the religious in its importance.

Several books ably explore how Tolkiens Catholic faith informed his fiction. None until now have centered on how his passion for liberty and limited government also shaped his work, or how this passion grew directly from his theological vision of man and creation.The Hobbit Partyfills this void.

The few existing pieces that do focus on the subject are mostly written by scholars with little or no formal training in literary analysis, and even less training in political economy. Witt and Richards bring toThe Hobbit Partya combined expertise in literary studies, political theory, economics, philosophy, and theology.