Book Description
Praise for The Bomb in My Garden
"This one book will tell you more about Iraq's quest for weapons of mass destruction than all U.S. intelligence on the subject. It is a fascinating and rare glimpse inside Saddam Hussein's Iraq-and inside a tyrant's mind."
-Fareed Zakaria
author of The Future of Freedom
"The Bomb in My Garden is important and utterly gripping. The old cliché is true-you start reading, and you don't want to stop. Mahdi Obeidi's story makes clear how hard Saddam Hussein tried to develop a nuclear weapon, and the reasons he fell short. It is also unforgettable as a picture of how honorable people tried to cope with a despot's demands. I enthusiastically recommend this book."
-James Fallows
National Correspondent, The Atlantic Monthly
"Obeidi was the key scientist in Saddam's centrifuge program, and he was central when they tried to conceal it. He was already thought to be too friendly to the weapons inspectors, and he showed considerable personal courage in coming forward as he did during very unsettled conditions after the war."
-David Kay
former UN weapons inspector and Head of the Iraqi Survey Group in charge of searching for weapons of mass destruction
Download Description
A news-breaking inside look at Saddam¿s nuclear program¿by the Iraqi scientist who ran it
No one knows more about Iraq¿s nuclear weapons program than Mahdi Obeidi, the man who headed its successful uranium enrichment effort. In the aftermath of the 2003 Iraq War, Obeidi voluntarily turned himself into American intelligence. Among the revelations reported by CNN at the time: In the early 1990s, under orders to hide the core of the program from U.N. weapons inspectors, Obeidi had buried in his backyard the capacity to build uranium-enriching gas centrifuges.
Now, at last, Obeidi tells all, taking us inside Saddam¿s regime and revealing the truth about its quest for nuclear weapons. He explains how he traveled abroad incognito though the United States and Europe in the 1980s and gained covert assistance for the Iraqi nuclear effort from scientists and manufacturers. He tells how he was forced to orchestrate Saddam¿s cat-and-mouse game with U.N. weapons inspectors in the early 1990s. And he captures what life was like in Saddam¿s inner circle¿the intimidation, the paranoia, the impossible deadlines. Most significantly, Obeidi discloses that Iraq never reconstituted its nuclear weapons program after the first Gulf War; the critical elements¿including the centrifuge¿remained buried in his garden until he voluntarily turned them over to U.S. forces last year.
Written with the pace and drama of a spy thriller, this eye-opening book shows how easy it was for a rogue regime to acquire nuclear technology¿and helps answer still-lingering questions about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction.
Mahdi Obeidi oversaw Iraq¿s top-secret centrifuge program and later became director-general of Iraq¿s Ministry of Industry and Military Industrialization under Saddam Hussein. In late 2003, Obeidi was granted asylum by the U.S., where he now lives. Kurt Pitzer (New York, NY) met Obeidi in Baghdad and helped him turn his secrets over to the U.S. He has reported out of the Balkans, the Middle East, Afghanistan, and Iraq and written for the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, the Boston Globe, and numerous magazines.
Customer Reviews:
A glimpse inside Iraq under Saddam's regime.......2007-04-10
Once you get started you won't be able to put this book down. This oral hisory shows how honorable, intelligent people with the best intentions can be forced to do the work of a corrupt regime. Thank you, Mr. Obeidi, for coming forward with your story revealing the individuals and countries (including our own) that made the acquisition of nuclear-producing components possible, in spite of the nuclear ban. It makes the current situation of nuclear fuel enrichment in Iran and North Korea all the scarier. Thank you, Kurt, for organizing this story so well and making the scientific jargon so easily understood.
Facinating Account.......2006-11-10
The Bomb in My Garden was very easy to read and held my interest throughout. Although I did not know Dr. Mahdi as a student at Colo School of Mines, he was in school at the same time as I, graduating three years after me. That added to my interest in the book.
It gives an insight into the kind of goverment Dr. Mahdi had to work under and give in to.
Model of an Illicit Program.......2006-10-09
The book provides excellent insight into the Iraqi program throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. The most insightful portion is how they pulled it off. They needed and acquired materials and expertise from Sweeden, Italy, and even the United States. It tells in detail how they used cover stories to get their hands on sensitive items and would then use front companies to ship those items back to Iraq. Once the program was discovered, the book details how the regime attempted to cover it up. In one case, they literally tore down a building, rebuilt it, and moved the top layer of dirt from all the way around the area to cover any traces of nuclear material at that location. It is a truly facisnating book!!
Genuine truth from a wonderful man !.......2005-11-25
This is not only a trilling read, in part due to it's non fictional aspect but also it's a wonderful book because it reflects the character of it's author.
To me it is genuine and believable for two reasons:
- The facts, details and timelines are cross checkable giving the reader an insider's view of Saddam's infamous regime.
- It has the fingerprint of a critical and clear thinker - a scientist, sometimes naive but always good intentioned who gets sucked into Iraq's nuclear program.
So in addition to being a fascinating account and a lesson in political science it also contains a good R&D story !
Science has always being of great interest to me and on that note , the most memorable point of the book was where he describes the gifted hands of a fellow scientist which delivered the works at a tense and critical moment
"...and I realized that all the theory in the world can never replace an experienced hand."
But I don't want to lose sight of the book's importance in the context of the US invasion of Iraq. I am in no doubt that Bush had no choice except to invade Iraq. After 9/11 he was not going to take a chance of leaving this erratic regime in place to spray havoc on the west at some future date in cohesion with Al-queda.
Of course that's a hard thing to say after all the bloodshed that has been in Iraq since the invasion but if Democracy prevails it will have a positive ripple throughout the Arab world.
What would have been the alternative?.. I have no doubt.
#66 Most wanted man in Iraq once, tells his story.......2005-05-29
"This is the man who will deliver the enriched uranium," Hussein Kemal said to his father-in-law Saddam, nodding at Mahdi Obeidi. "He has already made great strides." "In less than 3 years," Dr. Obeidi writes in this book, "our staff of only 200 talented men and women had progressed from almost total ignorance of centrifuge technology to the successful enrichment of uranium and to the verge of large-scale production." How he accomplished this feat (beginning in 1988) is he story of "A Bomb in my Garden"; so entitled because of his hiding of a test centrifuge---the single most dangerous piece of nuclear technology---& detailed blueprints on its manufacture for over 12 years (buried in his backyard) while UN inspectors searched Iraq for just such proof that Saddam was a lot closer to acquiring a nuclear device than he was willing to conceed (an ability, moreover, he could reconstitute fairly rapidly when desired). Dr. Obeidi explains herein how centrifuges draw the heavier isotope uranium-238 from the lighter uranium-235 "in much the same way that water is drawn out of laundry in the spin cycle of a washing machine." In this way natural uranium---which contains less than 1% uranium-235---can be accumulated & progressively enriched until it reaches lethal quality (at over 90% purity). Centrifuges, however, need to rotate at over 50,000 revolutions per minute to facilitate this process; an engineering miracle in of itself. Only certain materials can bear the stress of such force and have to be manufactured to such precise tolerances that Dr. Obeidi sent dozens of his engineers & researchers to train undercover in the world's best institutes & high-tech companies once he was able to procure the requisite classified plans for such; as he (simultaneously) "put together a strategy for acquiring parts, materials, and know-how on the international black market." This he did in total secrecy, under direct command of Saddam Hussein's son-in-law. "It is difficult to describe," he writes, "the sense of total fear we lived under" trying to meet arbitrarily imposed deadlines from above---the penalty being prison and/or execution for failure. It's an amazing story; and the details of meetings and events of interest are fascinating: details of meetings with Qusay Hussein & Saddam Hussein, being threatened by Saddam's son-in-law, watching Colin Powell address the UN on satellite televison, dodging American bombs during the invasion, wooing German & Swiss industrialists and scientists to provide classified materials & so on. Once he even had to tear down half of his development facility---walls, floor, etc. and remove tons of topsoil surrounding it before UN inspectors---having surprised him by taking samples---would be expected to return once those samples (as he expected) tested positive for radiation. If you are interested in the Iraq War, Saddam Hussein's dastardly doings---or need to be convinced of such, this is the book for you. Even if you don't need convincing, this book is a rare glimpse into Iraq that you will read cover to cover with keen interest. It is well written & hard to put down. Cheers!
Book Description
In a groundbreaking book that recasts the history of the Cold War, bestselling author Priscilla J. McMillan exposes, for the first time, the truth behind J. Robert Oppenheimer's 1954 trial on charges of violating national security. Drawing on newly declassified papers and extensive interviews, McMillan places Oppenheimer's opposition to development of the hydrogen bomb at the heart of the story—opposition that made him the victim of government officials who, conspiring with rival scientist Edward Teller, deceived President Eisenhower and trapped the enigmatic genius who had done more than anyone to build the atomic bomb. A chilling exposé of the McCarthy-era conspiracy that helped propel the East-West arms race, this is a spellbinding work of history.
Customer Reviews:
Scientist in controversy.......2007-02-25
Robert Oppenheimer led the country's World War II Manhattan Project to develop the atomic bomb, but America's nuclear monopoly was short lived. Only four years after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Soviets exploded their own device. An internal debate ensued within the Atomic Energy Commission's General Advisory Council (GAC) which was largely responsible for United States nuclear policy, chaired by Oppenheimer, on the merits of pursuing a hydrogen bomb. This debate occurred behind the scene and out of the public spotlight. Indeed the news of the Soviet accomplishment was delayed while President Truman determined its impact. Then not only did Truman overrule the GAC he "bound them to secrecy at a moment when they urged the public be more fully informed" (56) stifling any opportunity for an open public debate on a major national security issue.
At its "Halloween meeting" the GAC voted 8-0 to recommend the hydrogen bomb not be developed. McMillan explains how this opinion, the decision of scientists, diverged into a full-fledged developmental program comparable to the Manhattan project notwithstanding the reality of the bomb's destructive power. It is McMillan's contention that had the scientists, who knew the potential destructive power of the hydrogen bomb and who advocated a nuclear freeze, been able to keep control away from politicians, the arms race, hallmark of the Cold War, could have been averted.
McMillan argues "Oppenheimer "believed in international control, but he did not know how to get there [because] he was the possessor of a divided mind and extraordinarily divided emotions."(60) His personality prevented him from making a more forceful case against the "Super," as Edward Teller's design was known. One thing led to another and "the decision to produce the H-bomb enshrined secrecy and made the cold war a way of life...."(61) The urgency was heightened with the advent of the Korean War.
The war also had implications affecting Oppenheimer and his relations with the Air Force. Big bombs were preferred to defend Europe but smaller tactical weapons were needed in Asia where there existed few large targets. Atomic weapons seemed to promise "'the greatest possible gain in minimum time'"(91) reducing the need for a larger bomb. But Stan Ulam and Edward Teller developed the concept of "radiation implosion," which revived thermonuclear possibilities and led to the creation of a second (Livermore) laboratory in California diluting Oppenheimer's authority.
Oppenheimer's past affiliations with the Communist Party, Edward Teller's ambitions, and fellow GAC member Lewis Strauss' Machiavellian maneuvering, Soviet ambitions, Air Force militarism, McCarthy' red baiting, admitted espionage, and the war in Korea, combined to shunt Oppenheimer aside. In McMillan's treatise Oppenheimer, given his faults, is seen as a sympathetic figure that could have changed the course of history. However McMillan's bias is palpable: "Livermore and Los Alamos created the vast arsenal of superfluous nuclear weaponry that curses us today." (135) Nonetheless her contention that Oppenheimer was hung out to dry is well documented. Whether he could have averted the arms race is more speculative but her point that the shift away from scientific to political ownership of scientific knowledge is important to understanding the arms race. Ironically Robert Oppenheimer, the hero of nuclear development and long subjected to illegal scrutiny by the FBI, loses his security clearance though no one knows as many secrets as he does.
Rewriting History Again: More Bunk.......2006-09-09
There are a few facts that Ms. McMillan seems to ignore. The first fact I glean not from this book but from the KGB archives. According to the docent I encountered in their museum: Oppenheimer, though not himself a Soviet spy, was aware of USSR espionage at Los Alamos and turned a blind eye to this treasonous activity. The Atomic Energy Commission was rightly suspicious and, if anything, under reacted when they stripped Oppenheimer of his clearance.
As to the suggestion that Edward Teller was less a humanitarian than Oppenheimer, let's not forget that Teller (and others) petitioned the U.S. government to use the first nuclear bomb on a military and not a civilian target. Oppenheimer favored the policy that prevailed- unleashing these weapons at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
MIddling, definitely not the first book you should read on Oppenheimer.......2006-07-12
This is the third book in a row I've read on Oppenheimer (and related subjects), and this one is middling. The subject of this book is "the people and events that led to the destruction of J Robert Oppenheimer," although one of the book's flaws is that it isn't as focussed as that statement from the introduction might have it. For one thing, it's simply a given in the book that he was "destroyed" or "ruined" and yet there's scarcely a page or two about Oppenheimer the man or about Oppenheimer the man's reactions to his security clearance hearing. It's a pity too, because he's such a fascinating personality and compelling character that it would be interesting to learn more about him, personally or professionally. (I haven't read it yet, but the Kai Bird biography might be the trick here.)
What the book is more closely about is precisely the 1954 security clearance hearing, although McMillan spends about the first half of the book winding up to the subject in roundabout ways. She clearly has done her homework and has stories to tell, but she gets caught in the middle often: for example, when she goes into some depth on Teller and his contributions to the H-bomb, she appears to be digressing to slap Teller around if her real focus is the Oppenheimer security hearing, but on the other hand she doesn't go into enough depth if her purpose is to analyze the post-war community of (thermo-)nuclear bomb research.
Also, the book needed an editor to pick up the places where she repeats vignettes or quotes that she related 50 pages earlier; this unfortunately makes the book come off slapdash at times, although I think it was actually meticulously researched (no doubt just squeezed out under deadline). And, stylistically, the book's general methodical, dry tone (suitable to the material) is occasionally punctuated by McMillan's outrage with melodramatic chapter endings like: "the vast arsenal of superfluous nuclear weaponry that curses us today." My heart is with her, but she compromises the book with unbalanced rhetoric like this every 20 pages or so. One almost feels that she just couldn't stand being sober any more and has to yell out.
So the book has a number of failings, yes, but it's still largely readable and it makes an excellent supplement to more consequential books. I would certainly start with the like of Gregg Herken's The Brotherhood of the Bomb before reading this one. But coming to this book after Herken's, it does a nice job of filling in some of the gaps by virtue of a narrower focus and a number of authorial interviews providing little insights here and there. Not a must read by a long stretch, but not a waste of time for sufficiently interested readers.
Great work, but biased..........2006-07-09
One reviewer says that Teller was anti-semitic which is nonsense! He was a Hungarian Jew and close to Lewis Strauss who was an Orthodox Jew...
Oppie was a victim of the Cold War and the Red Scare at the time, but missing from this and other books about the period is the real evil of Joseph Stalin!!!
The hearing on Oppie's security clearance was a sham...but very telling is that Leslie Groves could not back Oppie then...very sad.
I "knew" I.I. Rabi at Columbia and one of the great things in the book is O's relation to Rabi, Bethe, and other fine men!
The Oppie story (a kind of frame-up complete with dastardly acts by the government) makes one realize that Alger Hiss may have been a good man too!
But again, Stalin was out there, a menace! and Americans are more scared of Commies than Nazis!!!
McMillan's work is excellent overall and a great read, but I tired of her one-sided complaints against the US policy on nucs...we did it in the context of a "war" with the USSR!
Best, Neal
More polemic than history.......2005-11-10
McMillan's book begins with the assumption that Robert J. Oppenheimer, an important voice in US nuclear policy, was forced out in a McCarthyite plot because he opposed Teller. Working backwards from that thesis, she constructs a just-so story in which every event conspires to remove Oppenheimer's influence from government.
The problem is that most of her suppositions just don't wash. Oppenheimer was in many ways a great man, but his importance has been greatly inflated over the years by what you might call the "Oppenheimer cult" of scientists looking to rewrite history. For one thing, Oppenheimer wasn't the center of the Manhattan Project- or more correctly, the Manhattan Engineering District. His real role was in recruiting scientists for the bomb laboratry, something he did exceptionally well, using his charm and reputation in the scientific community.
But Oppenheimer was never an important voice in making US atomic policy, despite his desire to act in that role. With vitory over Japan, and the end of his role, he in essence overstepped his assigned role as a scientific advisor to the fledgling Atomic Energy Comission, making a number of enemies on the policy side who resented his interference. Oppenheimer's opposition to Teller over the construciton of a thermonuclear device was just one more nail in the coffin- especially after the Soviet Union demonstrated that they had been working on such a device even as Oppenheimer and others had argued that if the US didn't pursue Teller's "Super", the Soviets probably wouldn't either.
In the end, what really borught down Oppenheimer was his own hubris, combined with his poor choice in associations and his refusal to be truthfull when questioned about having been approached by a posisble spy. Even General Groves, who had gone to bat for Oppenheimer many times during the war when his loyalty had been questioned, couldn't defend him in the end.
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Arms and the Physicist (Masters of Modern Physics)
Herbert F. York
Manufacturer: AIP Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 1563960990 |
Book Description
From the very start, at the age of twenty-one, Herbert York was swept into the century's most daring and dangerous technical achievement, the making of the atomic bomb. In Arms and the Physicist, York takes us backstage to witness key events of our time: to the Manhattan Project for the birth of the atomic bomb; to Lawrence Livermore where the H-bomb was built; to Washington to eavesdrop on how post-war history was being forged; and to Geneva where he tried to stem the madness. Readers will meet some of our greatest heros and villains--Lawrence, Oppenheimer, Weisskopf, Teller, General Groves, President Eisenhower, and a cast of hundreds--friends, colleagues, enemies, who for more than half a century, held the fate of the world in their hands.
Product Description
At the age of 21, York was swept into the century's most daring & dangerous technical achievement, the making of the atomic bomb. During his 50-year career as scientist & statesman, York was in the midst of the controversy. York takes us backstage to witness key events of our time: to the Manhattan Project for the birth of the atomic bomb; to Lawrence Livermore Lab. where the H-bomb was built; to Wash., D.C., to eavesdrop on how post-war history was being forged; & to Geneva where he tried to stem the madness. Along the way, you'll meet some of our greatest heroes & villains -- Lawrence, Oppenheimer, Weisskopf, Teller, Gen. Groves, Pres. Eisenhower, & a cast of hundreds who for more than a century held the fate of the world in their hands.
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Joseph Rotblat: Visionary for Peace
Manufacturer: Wiley-VCH
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ASIN: 3527406905 |
Book Description
Sir Joseph Rotblat (1908-2005), British physicist and one of the most prominent critics of the nuclear arms race, received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995 in conjunction with the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs, an organization of scientists which he headed at the time, for their efforts towards nuclear disarmament.
'Joseph Rotblat - Visionary for Peace' is dedicated to the life of this unique scientist and humanist. It contains contributions by Nobel Laureates, eminent scholars and prominent politicians who, each from their own perspective, shed light on the life and work of this distinguished scientist.
An introduction by the editors is followed by five central articles on Rotblat's biography, the impact of his work on science and peace and the Pugwash organization. The third part of the book consists of over 20 commentaries, written by the likes of Martin Rees, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jack Steinberger, Mohamed ElBaradei, Paul J.Crutzen, and Mairead Corrigan Maguire.
Book Description
This digital document is an article from Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, published by Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc. on May 1, 1993. The length of the article is 2555 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.
From the supplier: Three associates remember the late nuclear physicist Bernard T. Feld, a member of the Manhattan Project that developed the first atomic bomb. Feld became a peace advocate who believed that that peace could be promoted by promoting discussion among scientists.
Citation Details
Title: Remembering Bernie: Bernard Feld, who witnessed the beginning of the nuclear age, became an ardent, indefatigable champion of peace. (includes related editorial by Feld) (Obituary)
Author: Albert Wattenberg
Publication:
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (Refereed)
Date: May 1, 1993
Publisher: Educational Foundation for Nuclear Science, Inc.
Volume: v49
Issue: n4
Page: p13(5)
Article Type: Obituary
Distributed by Thomson Gale
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Arms and the Physicist.
Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000IBSG9S |
Average customer rating:
- better left as a fragment
- Worst Tarzan book I've ever read!
- Good Effort, But Not Quite ERB
- Boring, this one is not worth the time.
- Should have picked another writer to finish it
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Tarzan: The Lost Adventures (Tarzan)
Edgar Rice Burroughs
Manufacturer: Del Rey
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Binding: Mass Market Paperback
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The Beasts of Tarzan
ASIN: 0345412737
Release Date: 1997-04-28 |
Book Description
For nearly fifty years, Edgar Rice Burroughs's last Tarzan manuscript lay untouched and unfinished, locked away in a vault. It was the stuff of legend until, finally, the magnificent tale was completed with the help of award-winning author Joe R. Lansdale.
Once again the roar of Tarzan resounds through Africa as the Lord of the Jungle battles the savage creatures of the wild and helps a beautiful woman search for ancient Ur, lost city of gold. But Tarzan discovers they aren't alone in their quest. For evil follows in his path, and terror awaits him and his fierce lion Jad-bal-ja in Ur, where incredible treasures lie and horrors even more awesome hunger to destroy the mighty hero.
Customer Reviews:
better left as a fragment.......2006-01-03
First, let me say I like Lansdale's other work, and I respect his clear love for Burroughs' characters. Still, he was not the author to finish Burroughs' final Tarzan novel--if anyone was. Much as with that other pulp-era barbarian, Conan, Tarzan is at his best when handled only by his creator. For anyone else to write a Tarzan novel--even one begun by Burroughs himself--is the equivalent of invading a man's home and sleeping with his wife: It's just wrong. For the most part, the story's a by-the-numbers Tarzan novel without the sexually charged tension of Tarzan's encounters with La or Nemone or the breathtaking pace of Burroughs' midperiod Tarzan adventures. As conceived by Lansdale, Ur is a moderately interesting city, though a bit dark for a Burroughs novel. Also, Lansdale cheats us of the seemingly promised confrontation between Tarzan and the giant king of Ur, while the language Tarzan uses is out of line with Burroughs' creation. Finally, having Tarzan meekly submit to Fate and walk to Pellucidar is something the Burroughsian Ape-man would never do. Overall, while this book is a noble effort, it falls short on too many levels to be really worth the effort other than as a curiosity.
Worst Tarzan book I've ever read!.......2005-11-21
A note to real Tarzan fans: DO NOT bother reading the last Tarzan book, the missing manuscript finalized by Joe Lansdale. The book is really awful, it has totally lost the Burroughs original touch and feel. I was SOOO disappointed after reading the book that I was really furious. It was hard to recognize this Tarzan as the same person Burroughs was writing about. You have been warned!
Good Effort, But Not Quite ERB.......2004-01-20
I did not necessarily have high hopes for this book. As a pre-teen and teenager I was in love with the writing of Burroughs and Robert E. Howard, as well as their most famous characters, Tarzan and Conan, respectively. And I have had a lot of respect for the company controlling Burroughs's copyrights for not dumping a lot of Tarzan pastiches on the marketplace as has happened with Conan. But having watched hack after hack literally destroy Conan, my expectations for this book were fairly low.
Fortunately, I was somewhat surprised. While it definitely lacks Burroughs's tone in many places, it's relatively true to the original character. Lansdale appears to be a decent enough writer and I think he has a lot of respect for the Tarzan mythos. He wisely introduces one of my favorite characters into the storyline, Jad-Bal-Ja (the golden lion), but I ultimately wasn't overly impressed with what I considered the science fiction aspects of the story, e.g., the bug-like monster.
Not that Burroughs didn't frequently troll the waters of science fiction in Tarzan, it just seemed to lack a degree of originality. The downer ending was also something of an oddity. Admittedly, "Tarzan of the Apes," the one that started it all, had a downer ending, but for the most Burroughs generally wrapped up his Tarzan stories with a semblance of "everything is now right in the world." Okay, so maybe I'm being picky.
I do recommend this book. It is an entertaining read and is never boring. I guess anyone who tries to pick up where my favorite authors left off is usually going to face some negative criticism.
Boring, this one is not worth the time........2000-11-08
Same old sceanrio in a Tarzan story, spend your valuable time reading the earlier books in the series, you'll be happy you did!
Should have picked another writer to finish it.......1999-11-21
I eagerly awaited this book for about 15 years, ever since I learned that there was an unfinished Tarzan story by Burroughs, but I was quite disappointed by what was done with ERB's manuscript. Compare Lansdale's version with the synopsis of ERB's 80 page manuscript in the appendix to the Porges biography of ERB. Lansdale really butchered many elements already worked out by ERB. I understand it's very hard to match the quality of ERB's storytelling, and I don't like to overly criticize people, but it doesn't seem that Lansdale even tried to write a decent book. It reads to me like a hack job, with little regard for style or the character created by ERB. For example, would ERB have written "Keep your mind off the loincloth, dear?" I don't think so. Nor is ERB's Tarzan a braggart. His character is existential. But not so existential that he would just give up on Jane and enter Pellucidar. In the Dark Horse 4 part serial version of this book, there are so many errors as to believe that Lansdale was half asleep when he wrote this. For example, there are characters in certain scenes which are actually someplace else in Africa in a different part of the storyline. Tell me Lansdale didn't just write this book as quickly as he could. As for the reviewer who criticised ERB's supposedly dense style and praised Lansdale's stilted 3 word sentences and then said, "Well, I've read all the Tarzan, Barzoom, and Pellucidar novels at least twice, so I guess I'm well-informed also"... All I can respond to that is, if you've read Burroughs' Mars books so many times, why don't you know how to spell Barsoom? And one more thing, ERB's style is elegant, the thing which makes his stories immortal. Philip Jose Farmer should have been given the chance to finish ERB's last Tarzan novel (I'm not referring to his Tarzan pastiches A Feast Unknown and Lord of the Trees, which were meant to be humorous, not true adaptions of ERB's character). At least he understands the character better (read THE DARK HEART OF TIME for an example of this). This book gets 2 stars, not for Lansdale's efforts or lack thereof, but because of the occasional glimpse of a paragraph penned by Edgar Rice Burroughs, the Master of Adventure.
Book Description
TARZAN, LORD OF THE JUNGLE
When slave traders and safari hunters invade Tarzan's jungle kingdom, the mighty ape-man is caught up in a perilous quest for the lost Leopard City of Nimmr, a treasure land of amazing wealth. But Tarzan's cunning enemies vow his destruction, and the fabulous metropolis in the Forbidden Valley holds its own horrors of medieval mortal combat . . .
TARZAN AND THE LOST EMPIRE
While searching for a missing scholar in the treacherous Wiramwazi Mountains, Tarzan is captured by an ancient tribe of the centuries-dead Roman Empire. In this dangerous throwback to Caesar's brutal regime, Tarzan must triumph over cruel emperors, skilled gladiators, and blood-hungry lions--or he will never taste freedom again . . .
Customer Reviews:
Two "Lost World" Tarzan Novels -- Fun to Read . . . ........1999-05-07
The only problem with pairing these two Tarzan titles is that they are too similar.
Both involve lost kingdoms, one medieval and the other Roman.
Both involve two warring cities or kingdoms at opposite ends of a valley, and the strife between them.
Both involve "gosh & golly" that enduring civilizations from the distant past still live on in Africa.
However, this is not intended as sarcasm or criticism. These are each in their way excellent stories. Tarzan, particularly in "Lost Empire" shows a lot of knowledge and research of ancient Rome.
One of Tarzan's most sympathetic roles is as the rescuer of friendless, lovely females, and he has his hands full in fulfilling this mission in each of these novels. He also becomes the defender of the downtrodden.
Descriptions are good, and in each book Burroughs sets out to create -- chapter after chapter -- living, imaginary worlds peopled with interesting characters. Of course, they are either wonderfully good, or diabolically evil, but that's typical of Burroughs.
The little money Nkima shows up again-- he's always a fun character.
Alas, Burroughs does have a bad habit of going back to formulaic plots and re-creating them. Usually the details, characters, and descriptions are interesting enough that we don't resent this rather unimaginative trait.
However, these two novels are so close in plot, I'd recommend readers buy the pair, read one, and then go back to read the second after some intervening books have been read.
Customer Reviews:
Super Reader.......2007-08-04
This adventure into a small lost civilisation of the past is a lot more fun than Lord of the Jungle. Tarzan is much more the focal character in this book, rather than a sideline character, so that helps.
Running around with his simian sidekick provides some comic relief, as he comes up against a couple of tinpot Caesars, manhandles one, overcomes in the arena, survives a siege, and topples some government.
Definitely entertaining.
"He rose from the throne and raised his hand for silence. The hum of voices ceased. "Caesar is dead, but upon someone of you must fall the
mantle of Caesar."
"Long live Tarzan! Long live the new Caesar!" cried one of the gladiators, and instantly every Sanguinarian in the room took up the cry."
Tarzan doesn't really fancy the job, so makes a suggestion that one of his martial Roman friends would fill the void nicely.
This time Tarzan finds a couple of lost Roman cities.......2003-03-01
"Tarzan and the Lost Empire" is a typical Edgar Rice Burroughs story about the Lord of the Jungle where somebody disappears and Tarzan goes off into some uncharted part of Africa to rescue them from a lost city. This basic plot describes most Tarzan novels starting with the lost Atlantis colony of Opar in "The Return of Tarzan." What makes "Tarzan and the Lost Empire" rather different from the rest is that the lost city this time around happens to be a couple of outposts from the Roman Empire, still up and running almost two thousand years later.
The person who needs to be rescued in this 12th Tarzan novel is Erich von Harben, the son of a German medical missionary who is one of the Ape Man's old friends. Tarzan tracks Erich to a lost valley where he discovers the Roman outposts. Castra Sanguinarius is ruled by Sublatus, the cruel Emperor of the West, while Castrum Mare is ruled by the tyrant Validus Augustus, the Emperor of the East. Of course Tarzan ends up in the arena of Castra Sanguinarius fighting for his life, while young Erich faces a similar fate in the arena of Castrum Mare. the ape-man was seeking to rescue him. This is standard ERB fare but the idea that all Roman outposts set up despotic emperors is laying it on a bit thick. Still, there are a few noble Romans running around for Tarzan to bond with during this adventure.
Burroughs did write a few historical adventures along with those set on exotic worlds or lost lands, so it would have been interesting to see him do a tale set in Ancient Rome, but this was as close as he got. As always with these pot-boilers, the principle is that the less of them you have read the more likely you are to be impressed by this one (and visa versa).
Product Description
February, 1995. Cover by Arthur Suydam. Book two of four.
Product Description
Edgar Rice Burroughs' Tarzan the Lost Adventure #4. April 1995.
Product Description
Tarzan: The Lost Adventure, Book One of Four.
Book Description
Join Lord Greystoke-who is also the famous 'Ape-man'-in the aptly named 'Tarzan,Lord of the Jungle'-his 11th adventure-cruel slave traders have invaded Tarzan's jungle. In the meantime Tarzan must travel deep into unknown lands in search of a lost American. Soon both he and the slavers find themselves drawn to a hidden world still occupied by the Knights Templar who continue their Holy Crusades. Tarzan finds himself involved in this medieval life complete with jousting and combat with sword and shield. But the slavers too are coming closer. In the 12th Tarzan adventure 'Tarzan and the Lost Empire', Tarzan stumbles onto another vestige of times past in the form of the two remaining outposts of the ancient Roman Empire secreted in a hidden valley. Tarzan battles cruelty and plots to kill him against a race to save an innocent man from death in the arena. Edgar Rice Burroughs delivers once again classic adventure in the form of his most famous character, in a Leonaur series that will be a delight for both enthusiasts and new converts alike.
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