Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth

Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle-earth is a book by journalist John Garth, first published in 2003 by HarperCollins. 
It is a biography of J.R.R. Tolkien, drawing upon vast research to recount specifically Tolkien's time at Exeter College, the forming and endurance of the Tea Club, Barrovian Society, and the experiences in the First World War of him and his close friends. Garth provides frequent analysis of Tolkien's poetry, up to the end of the war, and of the progressing stages of his legendarium. The book includes the full text of the poem The Lonely Isle and excerpts from other poems such as The Grey Bridge of Tavrobel.
The book earned Garth the 2004 Mythopoeic Society Award in Inkling Studies, and since its second edition in 2005, has been published in the UK, the US, India, Germany, France, Spain, and China.
 
==Contents==
*Part One: The immortal four
**Prologue
**# Before
**# A young man with too much imagination
**# The Council of London
**# The Shores of Faërie
**# Benighted wanderers
**# Too long in slumber
*Part Two: Tears unnumbered
**# Larkspur and Canterbury-bells
**# A bitter winnowing
**# "Something has gone crack"
**# In a hole in the ground
*Part Three: The Lonely Isle
**# Castles in the air
**# Tol Withernon and Fladweth Amrod
**Epilogue: "A new light"
*Postscript: "One who dreams alone"
*Notes
Tolkien and the Great War features two maps displaying the war-movements and battles of the Battle of the Somme in France, a chronology of Tolkien's service and participation in the war, and illustrations by Tolkien alongside photographs of personnel and scenes across the Somme.
After 300 pages of text is an extensive list of citations, a bibliography, and index.
==External links==
*Official article at John Garth's website
*Tolkien and the Great War at Amazon.com
==See also==
*J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography
*Tolkien at Exeter College
*War of Words: Soldier-Poets of the Somme
de:Tolkien und der Erste Weltkrieg: Das Tor zu Mittelerde
Category:Biographies
Category:Books by John Garth
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Category:Secondary literature
Category:2003 publications
Category:Secondary lit. published by HarperCollins
Category:Books
Category:Works concerning World War I