Welcome to SPACE, our adult continuing education program which offers interactive monthly courses for personal enrichment! Learn more here.

Module SeriesNon-Sequential Series
Mixed Lecture/Discussion • Medium intensity
Christopher Tolkien’s twelve volumes on the History of Middle-earth give unparalleled insight into the development of J.R.R. Tolkien’s legendarium. They contain early drafts of familiar texts, different conceptualizations of well-known stories, and in some cases completely new material.

In this series of SPACE modules, we will tackle one volume per month over the course of a year. Each month-long module will provide an overview of a volume in context as well as readings from and discussion of highlights in that volume. Each module will include a guest appearance from Tolkien scholar John Garth.

Whether you’ve read the History of Middle-earth before or not, the hope is that these modules will make the volumes more accessible and will enhance your appreciation of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien. There is no requirement that you do every single module in the series as each will be largely standalone, although in later modules, references will be made to earlier volumes.

Required Texts


Each module will require a particular volume of the History of Middle-earth (any edition) as listed below, however, certain modules will also benefit from access to The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, and Unfinished Tales.

Module 1: The Book of Lost Tales: Part One
Module 2: The Book of Lost Tales: Part Two
Module 3: The Lays of Beleriand
Module 4: The Shaping of Middle-earth
Module 5: The Lost Road and Other Writings
Module 6: The Return of the Shadow — (The History of TLotR vol. 1)
Module 7: The Treason of Isengard — (The History of TLotR vol. 2)
Module 8: The War of the Ring — (The History of TLotR vol. 3)
Module 9: Sauron Defeated — (The History of TLotR vol. 4)
Module 10: Morgoth's Ring — (The Later Silmarillion vol. 1)
Module 11: The War of the Jewels — (The Later Silmarillion vol. 2)
Module 12: The Peoples of Middle-earth

If you're interested in this course...

If you have any questions about the SPACE program, please reach out to [email protected].