Roundabout

Everyone has an opinion about J.R.R. Tolkien and you will find many Tolkien essays around the Web. But which essays are worth reading? We think you'll find that some essayists would have done everyone a favor if they had written about topics which they know something about. You can pretty much tell the charlatans from the experts because the charlatans construct the most ridiculous, elaborate arguments to prove their "theories". The experts just put the facts down for you in a concise, logical progression and let you make your own decisions. How hard can that be?

1. Tolkien Essays: Tolkien Essays from MERP
2. Tolkien Essays: Tolkien Essays by Michael Martinez
3. The Lord of the Rings
4. The Lord of the Rings
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6. The Lord of the Rings
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8. Middle-earth Essays
9. Tolkien studies
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A good collection of Tolkien essays explains itself well enough that even a reader who has never read the books can follow the topics in the collection. If you have to have the books in front of you, all the Tolkien essays and encyclopedias in the world won't do you any good. Tolkien essays should be fun to read, easy to follow, and have no real agendas. The agenda-driven essays tend to be formulaic and they intentionally distort the facts, leave out important and relevant information, and do their best to mislead people.