Themes of The Lord of the Rings This is, according to Shippey, a very modern, 20th-century theme, since in earlier, medieval times, power was considered to "reveal character", not alter it. Shippey mentions Lord Acton's famous statement in 1887, that ""Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men..."" He then goes on to point out authors that were dealing in the same themes of power and corruption at around the same time as Tolkien wrote his work. These authors include George Orwell with "Animal Farm" (1945), William Golding with "Lord of the Flies" (1954), and T. H. White with
As the Crow Flies (novel) As the Crow Flies (novel) As the Crow Flies is a novel by Jeffrey Archer. The novel was originally published in hardback by HarperCollins in May 1991. HarperCollins and Random House both published paperback version of this book in 1992. The story tells the tale of the Trumper retail empire, through the (often overlapping) points of view of several of the main characters. The narrative characters are Charlie Trumper, Becky Salmon (later Trumper), Daphne, Colonel Hamilton, Mrs. Trentham, Daniel Trumper, and Cathy Ross. Guy Trentham is a non-narrative character who links most of these viewpoints together. The story begins with