Which Tolkien novel contains the chapter titled “The Scouring of the Shire”?

The Return of the King contains the chapter titled “The Scouring of the Shire.” It is the final volume of Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and was published in 1955.

In this chapter, Frodo, Sam, Merry, and Pippin return to the Shire and find it controlled and damaged by forces connected with Saruman. The episode shows that the hobbits’ homeland has not been untouched by the wider war.

Readers sometimes remember The Return of the King mainly for the destruction of the Ring and the crowning of Aragorn. Tolkien’s ending continues beyond those events, however, and the Scouring emphasizes the changed political and emotional circumstances awaiting the returning hobbits.