The story of how The Hobbit came to be written and published is almost as interesting as The Hobbit itself.  OK, maybe not, but it IS interesting, and serves as an interesting backdrop to a lot of discussions.  

For more on how the Hobbit was retconned to fit Tolkien's broader legendarium, check out this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIbXfJ72j4c  

When I publish the video on why the Hobbit movies are terrible, I'll link here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kORh99ZRuZ4  

You can find Tolkien's Essay on Fairy Stories here: https://www.amazon.com/Tolkien-Fairy-Stories-Verlyn-Flieger/dp/0007582919/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1506874225&sr=8-1&keywords=on+fairy+stories+tolkien  

And a video I did on his essay here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnMG5HhKK50