12 h 18 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 12 h 18 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens when war reaches a jungle home—and grief turns its protector into a hunter?
In Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Tarzan the Untamed, the First World War reaches Africa and brings violence to Tarzan’s door. An English lord raised by apes, he balances the life of a landowner with the instincts the jungle teaches him. His wife, Jane, shares that home. The arrival of German soldiers threatens a life that gives him much to lose.
Grief drives Tarzan back to his oldest skills and into a pursuit through hostile country. Beasts, heat, hunger and distance test more than his strength. As he hunts, his private code of justice comes under strain. The wilderness offers both danger and help, while anger presses him toward vengeance.
What you’ll discover
- A hero between worlds Follow Tarzan as he puts aside a landowner’s manners and trusts his jungle instincts.
- War at the doorstep Feel the stakes when a distant conflict breaks into Tarzan and Jane’s life in Africa.
- A wilderness that tests Enter a landscape where hunger, heat and beasts make survival a constant challenge.
- Justice under strain Explore the tension between Tarzan’s personal code and his fierce desire for vengeance.
- Strength meets cunning Experience a pursuit that demands both physical power and the skills of Tarzan’s youth.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy jungle adventure, animal cunning and daring escapes will love this book, as will anyone drawn to wartime Africa and lost cities.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Grief turns Tarzan into a hunter
- Tarzan fights in his own way
- Mercy interrupts the hunt for revenge
- The jungle offers another home
- Rescue makes hatred harder to keep
- Xuja hides danger behind its walls
- Civilization does not guarantee humanity
- Courage and kindness create lasting debts
- Vengeance cannot silence every human bond
Who’s who
- TarzanLord Greystoke, raised by apes, who throws off his civilized life to hunt the German officers he blames for his wife's death.
- Bertha KircherA brave young woman Tarzan believes to be a German spy, who keeps crossing his path and saving his life.
- Lieutenant Smith-OldwickA cheerful British flier who loses his plane, faces cannibals and lions, and falls hopelessly in love with Bertha.
- NumaA great black-maned lion whom Tarzan feeds and frees from a pit, and who repays his kindness again and again.
- Captain Fritz SchneiderA brutal German officer who leads the raid on Tarzan's farm and carries off a diamond locket as loot.
- UsangaA cruel black sergeant who deserts the German army with his men and dreams of flying away to be a king.
- Zu-tagA young bull ape, braver and sharper than his tribe, who rouses his friends to save Tarzan from the Wamabo stake.
- OtobuA black slave in the hidden city who wants to see his homeland again and guides Tarzan's party to the gate.
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Tarzan the Untamed
by Edgar Rice Burroughs · 1919
Tarzan believes his wife is dead, so he strides into the First World War and hunts her killers with a lion.
Medium level5–10 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Picture running home for days across the plains, then finding your barns burned, your guards dead and a body you cannot bear to look at. That is where Tarzan the Untamed begins, in the autumn of 1914, as the First World War spreads into East Africa.
Tarzan the Untamed at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h 50 min5 h 25 min fast, 8 h 10 min slow
- Length
- 97,800 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1919by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A burned farm turns a lord into a hunter
In the fall of 1914, Captain Fritz Schneider leads a German company through British East Africa, driving chained guides ahead with bayonets. He finds the farm of Lord Greystoke and learns that Tarzan is away. Lady Jane welcomes the officers kindly, because she does not know that Britain and Germany are at war.
Tarzan hears the news in Nairobi and races home to carry his wife to safety. When he reaches the plain, a thin line of smoke tells him he is too late.
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Which edition is right for me
- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 14 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1919
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 8 h 0 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Tarzan the Untamed. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/tarzan-the-untamed.
Burroughs, E. R. (2026). Tarzan the Untamed. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tarzan-the-untamed (Original work published 1919)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. Tarzan the Untamed. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tarzan-the-untamed.
@book{burroughs2026tarzan,
author = {Burroughs, Edgar Rice},
title = {Tarzan the Untamed},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tarzan-the-untamed},
note = {First published 1919}
}
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What is Tarzan the Untamed about?
It follows Tarzan during the First World War in East Africa. After his farm is raided and his wife seems dead, he hunts the German officers responsible, helps the British and rescues a woman he thinks is a spy.
Who is Bertha Kircher in Tarzan the Untamed?
She is a young woman Tarzan sees at German headquarters and believes is a spy. She reappears in the jungle as a captive, bravely survives lions, apes and a mad city, and shapes the book's moral tension.
Who is Numa the lion in the book?
Numa means lion: Tarzan tames one with pigskin bags and later feeds and frees another from a pit. Later a black-maned lion of the same name repays him, and the bond between ape-man and beast runs through the story.
The author
Edgar Rice Burroughs
1875–1950 · American adventure novelist
Edgar Rice Burroughs was an American writer born in Chicago in 1875. He wrote novels about Tarzan and novels set on Mars. His first Mars story appeared in 1912 and became the book A Princess of Mars in 1917. He later lived in California and died in Encino in 1950.
More by Edgar Rice Burroughs
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