We are thrilled to announce Polygon’s latest book: Year of the Ring, an in-depth exploration of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings trilogy and the books that inspired them. Year of the Ring — authored by Susana Polo and a variety of Polygon contributors — will hit stores on Oct. 15, 2024, kicking off Polygon Pages, an ongoing publishing partnership with Insight Editions.
Here’s how our publisher describes the book:
Year of the Ring is a beautiful hardcover volume that chronicles the origins and incarnations of J.R.R. Tolkien’s foundational text as it has wended its way towards leaving an indelible stamp on pop culture. The book charts the history of Lord of the Rings from Tolkien’s original books up through Peter Jackson’s landmark trilogy of adaptations and the lasting cultural impact they’ve all left on mass culture. Year of the Ring is an absolute treasure trove for fans of the series and those of us out there who’ve found Tolkien’s fantastically imaginative world difficult to leave.
The book pulls from Polygon’s yearlong Year of the Ring editorial package, in which Polo partnered with writers, authors, and fans to revisit the iconic films in new ways. Molly Ostertag wrote about queer readings of the series. The “other” actor who played Gimli told his tale of life on set. We even uncovered Peter Jackson’s original two-movie pitch for the series.
In the coming months, we’ll have news on additional books in the Polygon Pages series. We’re so excited to continue our history of producing awesome, beautiful, and informative books about the stuff we love! Be sure to pre-order Year of the Ring, and while you wait for October, check out our previous books on the history of Street Fighter 2 and Final Fantasy 7.