{"id":50945,"date":"2016-07-14T03:39:03","date_gmt":"2016-07-14T03:39:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=50945"},"modified":"2016-07-14T04:43:46","modified_gmt":"2016-07-14T04:43:46","slug":"new-book-high-towers-and-strong-places-by-tim-furnish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/?p=50945","title":{"rendered":"New Book: High Towers and Strong Places by Tim Furnish"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Mark Safranski<\/strong> \/ “zen<\/strong>“]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

High Towers and Strong Places: A Political History of Middle-Earth<\/strong><\/a> by Timothy R. Furnish<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

The hundredth anniversary of the terrifying and tragic Battle of the Somme<\/strong><\/a> seems a fitting time to review a new book about Middle-Earth<\/strong><\/a>, as it was born at the Somme<\/a>\u00a0 from<\/a> the<\/a> imagination<\/a> of<\/a> a<\/a> young<\/a> British<\/a> officer<\/a> who<\/a> survived it<\/a>, J.R.R. Tolkien<\/strong><\/a>. From the death and destruction of the Western Front, Tolkien wrought a deep and elegant mythology that has entertained and fascinated hundreds of millions of readers for decades, spawned a sword and sorcery genre of popular fiction, major motion pictures, video games\u00a0and even an academic field, “Tolkien Studies<\/a>“. It is to the latter that High Towers and Strong Places<\/strong> by Dr. Timothy Furnish\u00a0<\/strong>belongs and it represents a major analytic contribution; Furnish takes that which is well-known and widely read and breaks new ground.<\/p>\n

Departing from the tradition of analyzing Tolkien’s works as literature, poetry, linguistics, mythology, culture and even roots in Christian theology, Furnish applies the disciplinary lens of political science and opens up into view\u00a0the geopolitics of Middle-Earth; Sauron<\/strong><\/a> as tyrannical\u00a0theocrat, Gondor<\/strong><\/a> as hegemon and Gandalf<\/strong><\/a> as the grand strategist<\/a> of the West. Furnish, a former Arabic linguist and Army chaplain with a PhD in Islamic history, emphasizes that J.R.R. Tolkien, as a scholar and “subcreator” was deeply concerned with history and historical realism as a substantive basis for\u00a0his fictional world that he took to “amazing lengths” of detail. This makes Middle-Earth a prime candidate, Furnish argues,\u00a0to be analyzed in “real-world fashion”:<\/p>\n

….The Silmarillion<\/em> and LotR<\/em> are both shot through with politics – whether about the intrigues of noldorin princes of the First Age, the even more byzantine plots of the Second Age Numenorean<\/a> kings, or the dynastic struggles of the rulers of Arnor<\/a> and Gondor in the Third Age. But the latter two are in even larger measure books about wars, while even The Hobbit contains a major, and important, battle before its end.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Furnish looks at Middle-Earth from the wars of Beleriand<\/strong><\/a> to the War of the Ring<\/strong><\/a> in the Third Age<\/strong> <\/a>in terms of “Races and Realms” all\u00a0demonstrating three basic “Types of Rule” from which flows politics, policies and to some instances, strategy, manifesting in “The Physical, Cultural-Political and Economic Aspects of Middle-Earth Warfare”. To some degree, the early part of the text is a review of the major components of Tolkien’s legendarium, enjoyably familiar to the rabid Tolkien fan but absolutely useful to the more casual reader, who has read The Hobbit<\/strong><\/a> and Lord of the Rings<\/strong>\u00a0<\/a>but not The Silmarillion<\/strong><\/a>, Unfinished Tales<\/b><\/a>, the more recent The Children of Hurin<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0 or the twelve volume The History of Middle-Earth<\/strong> by Christopher Tolkien<\/strong>. Having laid the groundwork, Furnish then begins to\u00a0examine Middle-Earth with\u00a0the disciplinary lens of political science and IR.<\/p>\n

Heavily footnoted and charmingly illustrated by Anke Eissmann<\/strong><\/a>, where High Towers and Strong Places<\/strong> really shines is\u00a0in Furnish’s\u00a0detailed analysis of the realms of men and the critical role of the Edain<\/strong><\/a> and their descendants – the\u00a0fierce Numenoreans<\/strong> and the Dunedain<\/strong> of Gondor and Arnor –\u00a0play in Tolkien’s universe. It is conventional to interpret the history of Middle-Earth through an Elvish perspective given the events of The Silmarillion<\/strong> and the individual\u00a0power of the greatest of the Eldar – Feanor, Luthien, Fingolfin, Finrod Felagund, Thingol, Galadriel, Celebrimbor, Elrond<\/strong> – which overshadow all but a heroic\u00a0few men in Tolkien’s legendarium. Timothy Furnish is the first scholar\u00a0to put the true\u00a0scope and scale of the rise of Numenor and it’s armed might into perspective; Numenor was a true\u00a0global empire\u00a0and the mightiest military power of not only the Second Age<\/strong><\/a>, but perhaps of any age. The Numenoreans eclipsed the power of the Noldorin\u00a0Elf-kingdoms of Beleriand, ruled the Seas and vast swaths of Middle-Earth and easily\u00a0humbled Sauron at the pinnacle of his strength. It is an open question if Numenor at its height would have rivaled the power\u00a0of Angband<\/strong><\/a>, but under Ar-Pharazon<\/strong><\/a> the Numenoreans invaded Valinor<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0a feat\u00a0even Morgoth<\/strong> <\/a>never\u00a0dared to do. As Furnish writes:<\/p>\n

Numenor was clearly modeled on the Atlantis myth, the importance and the centrality of which to Tolkien’s own view of his legendarium’s history having already been noted. For some 3300 years, these “Kings of men” dominated the political and military dimensions of Middle-Earth, because of their being “more like to the Firstborn [Elves] than any other of the kindred of men”. Elven aspects of these men included not only extremely long lifespans….but also great bodily stature, usually reaching 6 1\/2 to 7 feet. In addition, the Numenoreans….became the most technologically advanced people in Middle-Earth – particularly in ship-building and as mariners and, eventually, in terms of military technology and weaponry<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While there are many points of interest in High Towers and Strong Places<\/strong>, such as the nature of Orcs<\/strong><\/a> or the relationship between Hobbits and Men or the political characteristics of Elven lordships vs. kingdoms, another strength is Furnish’s examination of\u00a0 “the realms of evil”, Angband and Mordor <\/strong><\/a>and their satellites and clients. While differentiating between the strategic ambitions\u00a0of the dark lord\u00a0Morgoth and his chief disciple and successor Sauron, Furnish characterizes them both as “theocratic tyrants”, albeit Sauron was the more rational and calculating of the two.\u00a0 As incarnated evil, immortal in nature and possessed of immense personal powers, the dark lords were aspiring “god-kings” seeking not merely political rule\u00a0imposed by\u00a0military dominance, but “worship” and total domination of the wills of others and – in Morgoth’s case – over the very\u00a0substance of Arda<\/strong><\/a> itself.<\/p>\n

This supernatural despotism has no genuine analog in the real world, of course, but their mad striving for “unipolarity” and reaping the consequences of counter-balancing and downfall is a familiar pattern. Furnish does a thorough job with the waxing and waning of power between the “states” of the West (of Elves, Dwarves and Men but especially Numenor and\u00a0Gondor) and Sauron’s eastern hegemony headquartered in Mordor. The flow and rhythm\u00a0is\u00a0one recognizable to anyone who has studied the Cold War or the empires of the\u00a0ancient world. Furnish intends to build upon this political history with a second volume, a military history of Middle-Earth that will delve deeply into how Tolkien conceived of war and warfare in his legendarium.<\/p>\n

High Towers and Strong Places<\/strong> is a must-have tome on the shelf\u00a0for every\u00a0dedicated fan of J.R.R. Tolkien.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[Mark Safranski \/ “zen“] High Towers and Strong Places: A Political History of Middle-Earth by Timothy R. Furnish The hundredth anniversary of the terrifying and tragic Battle of the Somme seems a fitting time to review a new book about Middle-Earth, as it was born at the Somme\u00a0 from the imagination of a young British […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-50945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50945","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=50945"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50945\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51293,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50945\/revisions\/51293"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=50945"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=50945"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zenpundit.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=50945"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}