Shippey and Flieger are the best. Garth is up there with them, and that includes his previous book, Tolkien and the Great War. The books of Christina Scull and Wayne G. Hammond, especially The J.R.R. Tolkien Companion & Guide, more reference than criticism, are essential to Tolkien study.
Other books of the last decade-plus that I've found particularly good include The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology by Elizabeth A. Whittingham, Tolkien and Wales by Carl Phelpstead, Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History by Dimitra Fimi, and The Sweet and the Bitter by Amy Amendt-Raduege (about his representation of death and its memorials). But unless you're a specialist you don't have to read all of these; it depends what you're particularly interested in.
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Date: 2021-03-23 03:32 pm (UTC)Other books of the last decade-plus that I've found particularly good include The Evolution of Tolkien's Mythology by Elizabeth A. Whittingham, Tolkien and Wales by Carl Phelpstead, Tolkien, Race, and Cultural History by Dimitra Fimi, and The Sweet and the Bitter by Amy Amendt-Raduege (about his representation of death and its memorials). But unless you're a specialist you don't have to read all of these; it depends what you're particularly interested in.