Books can change the world. That's not a controversial statement: From the Holy Bible to Reading Rainbow, just about everybody acknowledges the importance and influence of the written word. Even psychopaths.

5 The Lord of the Rings - Neo-Nazis

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The Classic Book

Lord of the Rings basically defined the fantasy genre. Its staples--elves and dwarves, dragons and orcs--are still the groundwork of most fantasy fiction today. It was a tale of brotherhood versus greed, good versus evil and like eight different kinds of midget versus the grim reaper. It was awesome, is what we're saying here.

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The Offenders

Neo-Nazis.

Wait... seriously?

For example, take this discussion on the white pride forum Stormfront featuring musings on which Middle Earth species represent each race.

But it's not an isolated Internet shenanigan: Italian fascists also viewed the book similarly, going as far as naming their fascist training facilities "hobbit camps." A whopping three-thousand kids attended, because it sounds way more fun when you phrase it as "romping about the shire with friends" as opposed to "learning how to combat the economic stranglehold of the Jews on modern Europe."

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And that wasn't even relegated to antiquity: The modern equivalent of those same factions have also screened the first film. So it's not like you're missing something subtle they're interpreting in those dense tomes; they totally think the story as presented by the movies is pro-Nazi.

Why the Bullshit Interpretation is Exactly That

Lord of the Rings is a work that shows multiple races setting aside their mistrust and hatred of each other, and working together for a peaceful world. It would be much easier to analyze the novel as a veiled condemnation of Nazism and racism than twisting it to be pro-fascist. The only hidden meaning to Lord of the Rings as confirmed by the author is the horror of rapid industrial expansion at the expense of nature. Which pretty much opposes the policies of the Nazi party completely. Whatever else they were, they were not "green."