Edgar Rice Burroughs and Tarzan

Like millions of other readers and moviegoers, as a youngster the late Robert W. Fenton loved swinging through the jungle with Tarzan. As an adult his interest was revived when he bought Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs' original office-estate in Tarzana, California, and began writing a biography of Burroughs. Originally titled The Big Swingers, it was the first full-scale, commercially published account of Burroughs' life and work. Here is Fenton's 1967 biography, back in print, as a wonderful source for a new generation of readers. Burroughs' early years were far from promising--he was dropped from school, undistinguished as a cavalryman at Fort Grant, lost out in gold mining, and had little success as a salesman. He knew nothing about writing, but decided to try it anyway--and created Tarzan, one of the most famous characters of all time. He also wrote 25 sequels and 40 other novels. This book includes letters, documents, synopses, lists of characters, and plots and themes Burroughs used in his work, and also reveals his interest in and ready observations on such issues as women's suffrage, prohibition, morality in Hollywood, and the Scopes trial in Tennessee. Some new photographs are included, along with a new foreword by Burroughs scholar George T. McWhorter.