The War for Middle-earth: J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis Confront the Gathering Storm, 1933-1945

In a world devastated by the cataclysm of war, two extraordinary authors and friends, J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis, delivered a bracing vision of the human story: a path back to goodness, beauty, and faith. How did they do it?

For the first time, historian Joseph Loconte explains how the catastrophe of World War II trans­formed the lives and literary imagination of Tolkien and Lewis. The mechanized slaughter of the First World War had created a storm of disillusionment with the political and religious ideals of Western civilization. The new ideologies of Modernism, communism, Nazism, and totalitarianism rushed to fill the vacuum. At stake was a contest between civilization and barbarism. Tolkien and Lewis sought each other out in friendship and threw themselves into the struggle.

Loconte explores how their most beloved works—The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, The Chron­icles of Narnia, Mere Christianity—were conceived in the shadow of the most devastating and dehumanizing war in history. Like no other authors of their age, Tolkien and Lewis used their imagi­nation to reclaim for their generation—and for ours—those deeds of valor and virtue and love that have always kept a lamp burning, even in the deepest darkness.

Join Loconte on this epic journey and

• be inspired by Tolkien’s and Lewis’s Christian imagination, which even today has the power to transform hearts desperate for hope and truth; • find encouragement and strength to resist evil in our own day; and • discover how a biblical view of truth and beauty can light the path out of the deepest darkness.

Combining a careful study of history and compelling storytelling, The War for Middle-earth reveals the remarkable achievement of these authors and friends: a recovery of heroism and faith despite deep sorrow and suffering. Here are enduring lessons for today's cultural moment. This is essential reading for anyone who believes that great stories can reveal great truths.

Photos and the bibliography can be found in the audiobook companion PDF download.

© 2025 Thomas Nelson (Audiobook): 9781400247899

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Audiobook: 18 November 2025