Robert Giddings (1935–2012)

An excellent volume of essays examining Tolkien and his work. I especially enjoyed Diana Wynne Jones' piece on narrative and Nigel Walmsley's piece on Tolkien's place in the sixties. Note to devoted Tolkienites: not every essay is kind to the maker of Middle-earth's legacy, although some of the criticism is well-founded.

"Explores the literary nexus - the interdependence always existing between writers and their readers through the production and distribution of books .... The eight authors chosen ... are studied in the cultural context of their time with an emphasis upon the channels of communication and the available technology of printing and publishing". from publisher's blurb.

An anthology of war-writing from ancient times to the present day. The range of writers includes Julius Caesar, who comments on the Gallic Wars of 58-51 BC, Emile Zola writing on the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71, and Charles Wood on the Falklands conflict of 1982.