10 h 29 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 29 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if your face could win you a crown—or pull you into a plot against it?
Barney Custer arrives in Lutha as a stranger, not a prince or a soldier. Yet this cheerful young American from Beatrice, Nebraska, looks almost exactly like King Leopold. In this invented Balkan kingdom of castles and plotting nobles, that likeness makes him dangerous to some and useful to others.
Rumor calls Leopold mad, and Peter of Blentz sees a chance to seize power. Princess Emma von der Tann cares deeply for Lutha but must decide whom to trust. In The Mad King, Edgar Rice Burroughs draws Barney into a struggle where courage, loyalty, and a royal face carry very different kinds of weight.
What you’ll discover
- A dangerous double Follow an American whose likeness to a king turns a foreign journey into royal intrigue.
- A kingdom under strain Enter a world of castles, hunting lodges, loyal soldiers, and nobles hungry for power.
- Romance and divided trust Meet Princess Emma, whose love for her country gives questions of loyalty a personal edge.
- Courage beyond a title Explore the difference between holding a crown and showing the character that earns trust.
- One more chapter Enjoy short chapters, sudden rescues, and moments of danger that keep the story moving.
Who will love it
You will love this if you enjoy swashbuckling adventure, daring escapes, hidden doors in old castles, look-alike heroes and fast, humorous storytelling.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- A joke on a mountain road backfires
- Blentz Castle holds him and Maenck threatens her
- Bandits, a loyal boy, and a king's ransom
- The real king appears and a coronation is stopped
- Ingratitude, exile, and a bomb in Nebraska
- A firing squad, a sewer, and a stolen car
- Back in Lutha, the king is lured and lost
- A man proves himself by what he does
- Loyalty, honor, and love pull in different directions
- Told at a gallop with humor, doubles and secret doors
Who’s who
- Barney CusterA bold young American from Beatrice, Nebraska, who looks so like the king of Lutha that everyone takes him for him, and who chooses honor over a crown.
- Princess Emma von der TannThe brave, proud daughter of Lutha's chancellor, betrothed to the king since childhood, who wants to keep her family's honor and her own heart.
- Leopold of LuthaThe true king, held at Blentz for ten years, who is frightened and vain and wants his throne and his safety more than he wants to deserve either.
- Prince Ludwig von der TannThe stern old chancellor who has served the Rubinroth kings and Lutha all his life, and who puts his country ahead of any one ruler.
- Peter of BlentzThe king's uncle and regent, who has ruled harshly for ten years and will do anything to keep or win the crown for himself.
- Captain Ernst MaenckThe cruel, cowardly governor of Blentz Castle, who wants Emma and a title and hates Barney for blocking both.
- Lieutenant Otto ButzowA loyal, skilled swordsman of the Royal Horse Guards who serves the king above all and becomes Barney's firmest friend.
- JosephAn old servant from Tann who slips into Blentz to guard his king, and who knows the castle's secret passages.
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The Mad King
by Edgar Rice Burroughs · 1926
A Nebraska man with a red beard is mistaken for the mad king of Lutha and cannot talk his way out.
Medium level10–20 hours to readEnglish
Excellent
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In short
What if a joke made you a king? Barney Custer, a young American from Beatrice, Nebraska, is touring the mountain kingdom of Lutha with a reddish-brown beard he must keep because he lost an election bet.
The Mad King at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h4 h 45 min fast, 7 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 85,300 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1926by 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 joke on a mountain road backfires
Barney arrives in Lutha for a hunting trip, wearing a reddish-brown beard he must keep until the fifth of November. The country is in uproar, because the mad king Leopold has escaped from Blentz Castle after ten years. His uncle Peter of Blentz, the regent, posts a notice describing a man with gray eyes and a reddish-brown beard.
Soon a girl on a runaway horse flashes past his roadster. Barney catches her as she jumps and goes over the cliff with the car. He climbs out unhurt. Feeling mischievous, he calls himself the mad king of Lutha. She goes white and kisses his hand. She is Emma von der Tann, whose father has always said the king is not mad.
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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
- 1926
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 6 h 45 min
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Mad King. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king.
Burroughs, E. R. (2026). The mad king. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king (Original work published 1926)
Burroughs, Edgar Rice. The Mad King. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king.
@book{burroughs2026mad,
author = {Burroughs, Edgar Rice},
title = {The Mad King},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-mad-king},
note = {First published 1926}
}
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What is The Mad King by Edgar Rice Burroughs about?
It follows Barney Custer, an American who looks exactly like the missing king of the small country of Lutha. Mistaken for the king, he is drawn into plots, escapes, a coronation and a war, all while falling in love with a princess.
Who is the mad king in The Mad King?
Leopold, the young king of Lutha, is declared mad by his uncle Peter of Blentz and held in Blentz Castle for ten years. Whether he is truly mad, or only kept from his throne, is one of the questions the story answers.
Is Lutha a real country?
No. Lutha is an invented mountain kingdom, though its neighbors in the story, Austria and Serbia, are real and appear as the First World War begins. The setting gives the adventure a European backdrop of castles, courts and borders.
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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