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158. Tolkien's Romantic Anarchy -- Meredith Veldman

158. Tolkien's Romantic Anarchy -- Meredith Veldman
The Sarehole Mill in Birmingham, near where Tolkien grew up, and the inspiration for the mill in The Shire. Photo by Dorian Le Sénéchal / Unsplash

Everyday Anarchism goes back to where it all began: the romantic anarchism of J.R.R. Tolkien. Meredith Veldman, author of Fantasy, The Bomb, and the Greening of Britain, joins me to talk about the romantic protest underlying The Lord of the Rings. We discuss the romantic quest for reintegration at the heart of the novels, the appeal that romanticism has for both anarchists and fascists, and why Palantir is such an ironically good name for Peter Thiel's big data company.