"A Hobbit A Wardrobe and A Great War" by Joseph Loconte. A Review

 

Joseph Loconte, Director of the B. Kenneth Simon Center for American Studies at the Heritage Foundation, and a Senior Fellow in Christianity and Culture at The King’s College in New York City, has given readers a potent manuscript to help readers fathom Tolkien, Lewis and the First World War. This volume was penned in 2015, in the middle of the Great War's centennial. With hundreds upon hundreds of reviews to pick from, mine will be short, sweet, and simple. 

Loconte marches readers through the lead up to the Great War and many details of its devastating effects. Chronicling the Christian Nationalism that fueled all sides in this war to end all wars, the author guides us out the other side into the growing, decimated wasteland of skepticism that was spawned after the war. Much that he describes before and after the war will cause many to pause and reflect on our own circumstances, the reigning presuppositions blanketing our time, and the potential consequences if they are allowed to run free.

For example, the author unflinchingly shows the role the Social Gospel movement had in the eugenics of the day and the myth of progress. He also takes note of who fostered Christian Nationalism, and how it was presented, by conservative and progressive Christians alike in America, Germany, Britain, and the rest. The opening chapters will bring most to shake their heads in disbelief and sorrow. But they will also inform readers on the milieu from which Lewis and Tolkien arise. And they will help thinkers to fathom the disillusionment that cluttered the wasted landscape after the war, and it's possible impact even 100 years later.

Of course, the whole book revolves around Lewis and Tolkien, the forging of their friendship, and the resultant "myths" they authored. Loconte gives us insightful examples of how trench warfare and the battlefields that both experienced arise in both authors' works, thus adding color to both sets of tales. Honestly, I found it hard to set the book down, and often said to myself, "Ahhhhh. Yes, that's what I was seeing in that scene!" It's a delightful work and I highly recommend it to all, especially fans of Lewis and Tolkien, as well as those interested in the First World War.