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 career-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 which started it all.

There are 144 pages in this book. This book was published 2002 by Pan Macmillan .

Michael Coren is a columnist, author, and broadcaster. He is the host of Michael Coren Live on CTS TV, the host of The Michael Coren Show on CFRB 1010, and has a weekly syndicated newspaper column published by the Sun Media Group. He is also the author of 10 books, including biographies of H. G. Wells, Arthur Conan Doyle, and C. S. Lewis. He lives in Burlington, ON.