The Land that Time Forgot, by Edgar Rice Burroughs

An old 'classic', this tale of a lost world has often been forgotten by contemporary readers in favor of more prominent books such as, Jurassic Park, the Lost World (both Crichton's and Doyle's), and, Journey to the Center of the Earth. While those books are certainly worthy of the attention, I have to say that Burroughs' take on a hidden world is just as entertaining. The book begins during WWI with a man finding a message in a bottle washed up on a beach. The message tells the story of Bowen J. Tyler, an American passenger on a boat. The boat is attacked by a German U-boat, but Tyler, his dog, Nob, and a female passenger, Lys La Rue, manage to escape in a lifeboat. They are picked up by a tugboat, which is also sunk by the U-boat but, with the help of the tugboat's crew, they manage to capture the U-boat. Unable to convince any allied nation that they are not German, they wander through the sea and, at last, set upon a strange island. This island, Corona (aka Caspka), is inhabited by creatures thought to be extinct. In addition, there are multiple tribes of cavemen (literally. They live in caves), each at a different stage of civilization. The group discovers oil on the island and things look like they're going to be alright, when the Germans take off without the other passengers and the allies are left alone on this dangerous island.

This book is delightful and filled with adventures. It's well-written, the characters are believable, and each event leaves the reader wanting more. It leaves off on a cliff-hanger which, seeing as there're two sequels, is always good. I'm looking forward to reading the next in the series.

There are, however, some instances of racism. It's not done to the point where it's occurring every few pages, but it's still noticeable. For instance, at one point, the narrator states of himself, "I could have gone on my knees to her and begged her forgivness- or at least I could have, had I not been Anglo-Saxon". Another time he says of the German captain "He, being a Prussian and a gentleman, couldn't stoop to such menial labor in the presence of his men". Now, it's difficult to know how to take these instances. On one hand, the book was written in 1918, when racism still ran rampant in the United States of America. It would be odd to not find some hint of racism in it. To some degree, one might be tempted to excuse the racism by saying that the narrator would have been a product of his time and upbringing. However, everyone's a product of one's time and upbringing. No one is raised in a perfect world where their role models are completely righteous and one never has to struggle with moral quandaries. Despite this, people do have the ability to look at the world around them, talk to different people, see how different beliefs measure up to realities and, in the end, judge for themselves what's right and wrong. Racism in a particular time period may be common but, in every society, there have been people who have worked to overcome it in themselves and others. Because of this, even if it's understandable for a person to be racist, I can't in good faith say it's ever right and, as a result, this characteristic of the narrator detracted from the book. Overall rating, 4 out of 5.