The Road Goes Ever On and On

A New Perspective on J. R. R. Tolkien and Middle-earth

By: Jeb Smith

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

J.R.R. Tolkien's Middle-earth has captured the imaginations of millions of readers around the world for generations. He is considered the father of modern fantasy, but few understand how Tolkien's worldview impacted his mythology. The Road Goes Ever On and On is the first book of its kind to place Tolkien within his proper context, giving the reader a deeper understanding of Tolkien and Middle-earth. Smith takes us on a quest through a wide range of Tolkien's writings to unlock Tolkien's perspective--a perspective that, like the elves who have sailed into the West leaving Middle-earth, has faded away from our world.

You will gain an in-depth knowledge of Tolkien's views on politics, environmentalism, religion, and much more. From the Valar to Hobbits, the free peoples closely follow Tolkien's sentiments. In contrast, forces under the Shadow represent what Tolkien believed was immoral. Covering a wide range of topics, The Road Goes Ever On and On is filled with breathtaking illustrations bringing Middle-earth to life like never before, making this the 'one book to rule them all.'


Engrossing...Tolkien's principles--patriotism, Medievalism, localism, Catholicism--are certainly out of fashion today. And yet they're the foundation for all his books, which have sold hundreds of millions of copies. Mr. Smith does a wonderful job of explaining why modern readers are so enthralled by Tolkien's reactionary vision. Whether you're a casual Lord of the Rings fan or a serious Tolkien scholar, every page of Mr. Smith's book will delight and fascinate. And if anyone ever tells you that fairy-tales are only for children, hand him this book. Tolkien ought to be regarded as one of the great social critics of our time, as Mr. Smith so masterfully demonstrates.
-Michael Warren Davis is an editor for Sophia Institute Press and the author of The Reactionary Mind: Why Conservative Isn't Enough. You can find him on his blog, The Common Man.

As the popularity of Tolkien's work continues to endure, the importance of Jeb Smith's work continues to grow. This is because of a prolonged siege against Tolkien's work: the attempt to dislodge it from its Christian and Biblical foundations. Jeb Smith's insights are immensely helpful to this and future generations of Tolkien admirers.
-Scott L. Smith, author of Lord of the Rings and the Eucharist

Informative but Dry

Smith explores the impact of Tolkien’s views on religion, politics, the environment, and history on the development of Middle Earth. He goes into quite a bit of detail while making his case and this made for dry reading, but it was still interesting. Perhaps the most surprising part for me was Smith's insistence that Tolkien did not support democracy but preferred the medieval monarchy. I thought this conception was highly romanticized and find it difficult to believe that a man of Tolkien's education and expertise really wanted to pull Britain politically back to the Middle Ages. But that doesn't mean that he was happy with the state of politics in his lifetime.