Trailblazer: The Autobiography of Tarzan's Creator celebrates the 150th anniversary of Edgar Rice Burroughs' birth with an extraordinary collection of firsthand writings, rare archival materials, and new scholarship. At its heart is Burroughs' previously unpublished 20,000-word "Autobiography," dictated in 1929, in which he recounts his life from childhood in Chicago through his early adventures as a cowboy, military cadet, cavalryman, businessman, husband, and father, culminating in the creation of two of literature's most enduring heroes: Tarzan and John Carter of Mars. Revealing, humorous, and often self-deprecating, the autobiography offers fresh insight into the man behind the legend while challenging long-standing misconceptions about his views on race through accounts of his experiences with Indigenous peoples and Black soldiers in the American Southwest.
Supplementing the author's memoir is a 20,000-word biographical study by acclaimed Burroughs scholar Henry G. Franke III, tracing Burroughs' rise from aspiring writer to pioneering entrepreneur, media visionary, and World War II war correspondent.
Completing the volume are eighteen essays by Burroughs, including four previously unpublished travelogues, along with rare photographs and images from the archives of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc. Thoughtful forewords by Burroughs' great-granddaughters Kathleen Bonnaud and Llana Jane Burroughs, and ERB, Inc., President James Sullos, make Trailblazer the definitive portrait of one of America's most influential storytellers.