Back cover summary: The Shire features... COLOR MAPS - vivid renditions of the Shire in T.A. 1640 and T.A. 3018. THE GLENNEN - the mountain slopes and river vales where the Hobbits first lifted their faces to the sun, paddled their cockle-boats, and shrank from the Shadow that gathered in the East. SIRAGALË - the rolling hills, that would one day become the Shire, but first were roamed by the Sirannar, a reclusive branch of the Nando Elves. THE SHIRE GRANT - an account of the unique political tangle that culminated in the gift of the Shire to the Hobbits from Arthadan King Argeleb II. THE SHIRE OF BILBO'S DAY - that pocket of tranquility guarded secretly by the Rangers of the North. THE TOOK-THAINS - the chieftains of that adventuresome family of Hobbits from whose lineage sprang Bilbo and Frodo. HOBBITS - the renowned heroes Merry, Pippin, and Sam, as well as more anonymous personalities with an equal measure of bravery, Kocho Kurl, Molly Boffin, Gresham Shaper, and others. SITES - smials and hamlets of the Hobbits, tree-garths of the dwindling Sirannar, and manors of the Dúnedain. ADVENTURES - join the Periwott Halflings in their struggle with unexpected guests: an Orc ambush camped on their doorstep; discover the malevolent aims of the "Nackers," bogies with sharp fangs and claws who haunt the nights in the Marish; learn the origins of the great wolf that witnesses riots and stonings, proof that the passions of the Elder Days still breath their peril into the tame lands of even the Shire.