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It might have a shortcoming in that the group only used fourteen institutions in their study, but they openly admit their procedures and appreciate the fact that their scope could be considered somewhat limited. However, their conclusions and recommendations are such that they need not be institution specific. They challenge colleges and universities to not only create a mission, but to strive to meet that mission on a continuum...for it to permeate the scope of the institution from the admissions process, through campus life, and on into alumni programming.
For those truly intrigued with higher education (and especially its outcomes), this is an easy read. The picture that they paint for the "involved college" is somewhat utopian, but I argue that is what makes the book so inspiring. We should all hope to work for and/or attend an institution that can set such high goals not only for its academic curriculum, but for the community of learning that it fosters.
Anyone involved with the lives of college students can't afford to miss out on this book.
The essays may be loosely divided into three main sections. The first comprises essays on the poetics and sources of Tolkien's fiction. The standouts here are Sullivan's "Tolkien the Bard", which suggests and that Tolkien's style may be best understood as an application of oral poetry and orally told story to written medium, and "The Dragon-Lore of Middle-Earth", which takes a close look at what Tolkien took from medieval (and specifically Norse) dragon stories and how he specifically adapted the material to his own purpose. The articles on Tolkien's verse and on his use of _Sir Gawain and the Green Knight_is also quite insightful.
The second section tends to be 'comparative' and places Tolkien and his work in juxtaposition with other authors. The most intriguing article here is one that compares Tolkien's "On Fairy Stories" with the Sir Philip Sydney's "In Defence of Poetry". What is so exciting about this is not so much the comparison of Tolkien's 'story theory' with that of Sydney, but the analysis of how, for Tolkien, creative writing-- and indeed the very act of subcreation itself-- is gendered masculine. Other articles touch on Tolkie and Lewis, _The Hobbit_ and _King Solomons Mines_, and Tolkien and Milton.
The third and final section is a more eclectic hodgepodge of articles on different subjects, ranging from Tolkien's legacy (and in particular, the ways in which female fantasy-writers have adopted, adapted, and responded to the overwhelming and masculine "shadow of the Ring"), to the elegeic quality of Tolkien's fiction and its concernw ith loss, to the nature of evil, to Tolkien's literary treatment of trees. Of all of these, the last, written by Verlyn Flieger is the most illuminating and advances the most excitin argument. Flieger carefully notes that the representation of trees and forests in _Lord of the Rings_ is *not* so universally favorable and sympathetic. By juxtaposing the Old Forest (and Old Man Willow) with Fangorn Forest (and the Ents), Flieger shows that this issue is more complex, ambiguous, and filled with internal tensions than has generally been assumed. It is, perhaps, the most important essay in this collection-- and may represent Flieger's finest work yet as a Tolkien scholar.
This is an academic book, published by a smaller press, so it's got a hefty pricetag on it-- but it's an outstanding collection of new Tolkien scholarship and I unqualifiedly recommend it to any serious Tolkien scholars. Those with an aversion to scholarly inquiry (a la _Tolkien's Legendarium_) and who prefer more fannish modes of discourse(e. g._Visualizing Middle-Earth_), however, might want to give this a pass.