Synopses & Reviews
Virginia gentleman John Carter, unexpectedly transported to the perilous red planet, Mars, finds himself captured by the loveless Green Men of Thark. As Carter struggles to win his freedom — and the affections of fellow captive Dejah Thoris, princess of the rival clan of Helium — the fate of the entire planet hangs in the balance: warring Martian tribes collide and the beleaguered Atmosphere Factory grinds to a suffocating halt. Ray Bradbury, reminiscing on the enduring thrill of Burroughs’s Martian adventure, writes, “I stood on the lawns of summer, raised my hands, and cried for Mars, like John Carter, to take me home. I flew to the Red Planet and never returned.”
Review
“Might it really be possible — in fact and not in fancy — to venture with John Carter to the Kingdom of Helium on the planet Mars?” Carl Sagan
About the Author
Edgar Rice Burroughs is one of the world's most popular authors. With no previous experience as a writer, he wrote and sold his first novel —
A Princess of Mars — in 1912. In the ensuing thirty-eight years, until his death in 1950, Burroughs produced ninety-one books and a host of short stories and articles. Although he is best known as the creator of the classic Tarzan of the Apes and John Carter of Mars, his restless imagination knew few bounds. Burroughs's prolific pen took readers from the American West to primitive Africa to romantic adventures on the moon, other planets, and beyond the farthest star.
No one knows how many copies of Burroughs's books have been published throughout the world. It is conservative to say, however, that with translations into thirty-two known languages, including Braille, the number must run into the hundreds of millions. Considering the additional world-wide following of the Tarzan newspaper feature, radio programs, comic magazines, motion pictures, and television series, Burroughs and his works are certainly known and loved by a legion of fans.