J.R.R. Tolkien was an orphan, a scholar, a soldier, a professor; and the author of what is considered by many to be the finest book of the 20th Century - The Lord of the Rings . In this carefully researched and engagingly written biography, you'll come to know Tolkien, the friends and family members who shaped his life, and the colleagues and fellow writers who influenced his career. You'll follow Tolkien from his early childhood in South Africa to what he assumed would be the pinnacle of his carrer - a professorship at Oxford. Little did he know, it was just the beginning. For it was there that Tolkien would decide to write The Hobbit, the story that started it all.