And so it begins...The Socialist Shelf Tolkien deep dive.

The Shelfers begin an examination of the ultimate fantasy series, "The Lord of the Rings," starting with 1937's "The Hobbit" (not technically part of the trilogy but pretty darn important if you want to understand it.)

We also talk about the life of John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, a world-historic wife guy, a mustard gas survivor, history's greatest expert in "mad fairy language," and a...conservative anarchist? Maybe? Sort of? We get into it.