Sure Burroughs was swallowing the William Summer's social Darwinism arguments hook, line, and sinker, and John Carter is about as racist as a Confederate Captain or the average white dude from that era probably was, but EBR isn't a social advocate of anything.

I'm re-reading Princess of Mars. So far it's only mildly objectionable IMHO, but Carter just got introduced to the green martians, so it's early yet...

Just to check my UF timeline - Devlin Carter is the nephew of Edison Carter and the nephew of Sam Carter...and is he related to the Lovecraft or Burroughs Carters? I'm thinking Lovecraft, but can't quite recall..

t.

Trigger Argee
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST

It's kind of an undeclared running joke in the UF universe that everyone you meet named Carter is related. Devlin's late, unlamented father was the notorious ganster Jack Carter of Get Carter fame (Edison and Samantha are presumably Jack's estranged brother and sister). Somewhere a ways back and off on another branch in their family tree, you can find the mystic and dream explorer Randolph Carter of Boston (1874-1932?).

Martian warlord John Carter's provenance as part of that same clan is harder to establish, since he himself doesn't know when he was born, but family legend claims him as the one who (ca. 1650) established what would become the American branch of the family, and thus as a fairly distant ancestor of Randolph's.

--G.
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Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

t.
who meant to dig out "For the honor of Mars" again today

Trigger Argee
Manon, Maccadon, Orado, etc.
Denton, never leave home without it.

"I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me." - HST

Well, yeah, he's immortal - weirdly enough, that's the first thing Burroughs establishes about him, even before all the Mars stuff happens.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.

They're very much of their time, but if you're OK with that, they're cracking good reads. They're sort of a bridge between Victorian speculative fiction and early-modern sci-fi - particularly the initial trilogy, which is sort of a sword-and-sandal epic in space.

--G.
-><-
Benjamin D. Hutchins, Co-Founder, Editor-in-Chief, & Forum Admin
Eyrie Productions, Unlimited http://www.eyrie-productions.com/
Ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam.