The Fellowship of the Ring
(J.R.R Tolkien)

John Ronald Reuel Tolkien was born on January 3, 1892 in South Africa. His family returned to England after the death of his father when he was three where he was educated and grew up. As a youth, he spent a good deal of time reading and writing poetry. He eventually enrolled in Exeter College at Oxford where studied English Literature.

Tolkien would serve in World War One where he saw many of his closest friends killed. This was an experience that would stay with him and shape his opinions on war for the rest of his life. Contracting trench fever he was eventually deemed unfit for service and returned to England to recover. It was during this recovery time that he began the principle work on the mythos of Middle-Earth.

Following the war he eventually became a professor at the University of Leeds where he translated and published several works of academia. Tolkien would eventually return to Oxford as a college and also retain a fellowship at Pembroke College. It was at Pembroke where he wrote The Hobbit and the first two parts of The Lord of the Rings. Outside of writing these books Tolkien maintained a prominent academic life. He was one of the most influential lecturers of his time on the text Beowulf and wrote and published essays and books on a variety of subjects.

When World War Two began Tolkien maintained his ardent distaste for war. Though he found Hitler and the Nazis disgusting he was also disturbed by the anti-German propaganda played in England as well as the atrocities committed by the Allies against civilian populations. Following the war, Tolkien completed The Lord of the Rings in 1948. The books were published originally in 1954. He maintained a prolific academic career until 1959 when he retired. Tolkien died in 1971.