"Return of the Ring: Celebrating Tolkien in 2012" was a five-day conference organised by the Tolkien Society to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. Return of the Ring was one of the largest Tolkien-specific events ever held and followed on from the Tolkien Society's earlier conferences in 1992 and 2005.
Few twentieth-century authors can compete with J.R.R. Tolkien. More than three-quarters of a century after the publication of The Hobbit in 1937, his works continue to captivate millions of readers across the world. As a collection of papers delivered in 2012 at the Tolkien Society’s international conference of the same name, The Return of the Ring is representative of the wide and varied responses Tolkien’s works have generated over the decades. The first volume focuses primarily on Tolkien’s life, examining the influence of war, philosophy, and religion on his mythology. The second volume is much more diverse, covering themes from medievalism and romanticism through to fantasy and modernity. With contributions from the likes of John Garth, Colin Duriez, Ronald Hutton, and Janet Brennan Croft, The Return of the Ring is essential for scholars and casual readers alike.
 
About Return of the Ring
“Return of the Ring: Celebrating Tolkien in 2012” was a five-day conference organised by the Tolkien Society to mark the 75th anniversary of the publication of The Hobbit. Held at Loughborough University 16–20 August 2012, it brought together a unique mixture of fun, fandom and scholarship. In addition to the excellent selection of scholars featured in these proceedings, there were singers, re-enactors, artists, performers, figures from fandom and Tolkien’s grandson. With around 500 delegates from across the globe, Return of the Ring was one of the largest Tolkien-specific events ever held and followed on from the Tolkien Society’s earlier conferences in 1992 and 2005, which respectively marked the centenary of Tolkien’s birth and the 50th anniversary of the publication of The Lord of the Rings.
 
CONTENT:
Foreword by Shaun Gunner
Introduction by Lynn Forest-Hill
Tolkien's Birmingham by Robert S. Blackham
J.R.R. Tolkien's 'second father' Fr. Francis Morgan and other non-canonical influences by José Manuel Ferrández Bru
Tolkien's Oxford by Robert S. Blackham
J.R.R. Tolkien and the origins of the Inklings by Colin Duriez
Robert Quilter Gilson, T.C.B.S.: A brief life in letters by John Garth
Tolkien: the War Years by Robert S. Blackham
Sauron Revealed by LeiLani Hinds
Clean Earth to Till: A Tolkienian Vision of War by Anna E. Thayer (née Slack)
The Importance of Home in the Middle-earth Legendarium by Sara Brown
Tolkien versus the history of philosophy by Franco Manni
Tolkien's Boethius, Alfred's Boethius by Gerard Hynes
Teaching Leadership and Ethics through Tolkien by Laura Miller-Purrenhage
Tolkien - Pagan or Christian? A proposal for a 'new' synthetic approach by Claudio A. Testi
A Latter-day Saint reading of Tolkien by James D. Holt
Tolkien's Magic by Ronald Hutton
Cyclic cataclysms, Semitic stereotypes and religious reforms: a classicist's Númenor by Pamina Fernández Camacho
From 2012 AD to Atlantis and Back Again - Tolkien's Circular Journey in Time by Xavier de la Huerga
The Notion Club Papers: A Summary by David Doughan
Myth-Making: How J. R. R. Tolkien Adapted Mythopoeia from Old English by Zachary A. Rhone
J. R. R. Tolkien's Mythopoeia and Familiarisation of Myth: Hobbits as Mediators of Myth in The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings by Jyrki Korpua
White riders and new world orders: Nature and technology in Theodor Storm's Der Schimmelreiter and J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings by Larissa Budde.