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Audiobook editionPaperback · 6 × 9 in · 164 pagesHardcover · 6 × 9 in · 164 pagesAbout this book
What if the machine you build to help your country also makes your workshop a target for enemy spies?
In Tom Swift and His War Tank, the young inventor from Shopton turns his practical mind toward a fighting machine for the American army. His plans promise a way to serve his country, but enemy agents want to stop him. Building the tank is only part of the challenge: Tom must also protect its secrets.
Barton Swift, Tom’s father and a fellow inventor, supports the work, while loyal friend Ned Newton stands beside Tom through trouble. Workshop detail meets quick action as invention and espionage pull the story forward. Published in 1918 under the name Victor Appleton, this adventure also offers a glimpse of popular fiction cheering on the First World War effort.
What you’ll discover
- An inventor with purpose Meet a bright, practical young man who turns his skill toward his country’s wartime needs.
- Secrets worth protecting Follow the suspense as enemy spies threaten the plans at the heart of Tom’s work.
- Inside the family workshop Explore a household where Tom and Barton Swift share a life built around making things.
- Machinery meets adventure Enjoy workshop detail alongside quick action, with a new fighting machine at the story’s center.
- A window into wartime See how an early adventure story links invention, service, and enthusiasm for the war effort.
Who will love it
This is for anyone who likes inventors and big machines, wartime spy hunts, cheerful friendships and fast early twentieth century adventure with a good deal of humour.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Tom serves behind a secret fence
- The guards protect more than machinery
- A uniform cannot explain every duty
- An underestimated guard catches a spy
- The hidden machine proves its promise
- Every trial brings another threat
- Service takes more than one form
- Ingenuity grows through shared practical work
- One machine gathers a loyal circle
Who’s who
- Tom SwiftA young inventor from Shopton who builds a huge war tank in secret and endures his neighbours' doubts while the enemy circles.
- Ned NewtonTom's lifelong friend, a young banker who sells Liberty Bonds and becomes a sharp amateur detective.
- Mr. DamonAn elderly, bubbling friend who blesses every object in reach and follows Tom into each adventure.
- Mary NestorA kind young woman who leads war work in town and wants to understand why Tom stays silent.
- Mr. NestorMary's excitable father, who wants every young man in uniform and learns to judge Tom more fairly.
- KokuA huge, loyal giant who guards the secret shop and is devoted to Tom.
- Eradicate SampsonThe Swifts' elderly handyman, who insists on being a detective and wants to prove himself against Koku.
- Walter SimpsonA smooth stranger who hides in trees and watches the Swift plant, working with Blakeson and a spy ring.
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25 languages, side by side
Tom Swift and His War Tank in 25 languages, side by side, paragraph by paragraph, once the book texts are online: the way to learn a language with a book you love.
Tom Swift and His War Tank
by Victor Appleton · 1918
Tom Swift builds a giant armoured machine in secret while spies close in and friends doubt him.
Easy read2–5 hours to read20 languages
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In short
What would you do if your whole town thought you were dodging the war, and you could not say a word in your own defence? That is Tom Swift's problem, the young inventor of Shopton.
Tom Swift and His War Tank at a glance
- Reading time
- About 2 h 50 min2 h 15 min fast, 3 h 25 min slow
- Length
- 41,000 words
- Library level
- Easy short sentences, plain words
- First published
- 1918by Victor Appleton
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 worried inventor and a familiar stranger
Tom Swift paces his workroom in Shopton, muttering that he must do something he does not want to do, because it is his bit for the war. His friend Mr. Damon walks in and teases him. Mr. Damon blesses every object he can think of, and the habit becomes a running joke.
Tom will not explain. Instead he takes Mr. Damon up in his small aircraft, the Hawk, while the giant Koku brings it out of the shed. Before they leave, Tom's father mentions he has solved a trouble with a carburetor for a heavy gasoline engine. Tom is delighted but does not say what the engine is for.
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Tom Swift builds a giant armoured machine in secret while spies close in and friends doubt him.
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Details
- First published
- 1918
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 3 h 20 min
- Level
- Easy read
- Paperback
- 164 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Hardcover
- 164 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print paperback
- 256 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Large print hardcover
- 256 pages · 6 × 9 in
- Delivery and returns
- Printed when you order. Usually here in 12 to 14 days.Arrives Wed 2 Dec to Tue 8 Decto United States, printed for you at cost
For Christmas, order by Thu 12 Nov
Cite this edition
Appleton, Victor. Tom Swift and His War Tank. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/tom-swift-and-his-war-tank.
Appleton, V. (2026). Tom Swift and his war tank. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tom-swift-and-his-war-tank (Original work published 1918)
Appleton, Victor. Tom Swift and His War Tank. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tom-swift-and-his-war-tank.
@book{appleton2026tom,
author = {Appleton, Victor},
title = {Tom Swift and His War Tank},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/tom-swift-and-his-war-tank},
note = {First published 1918}
}
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What is Tom Swift and His War Tank about?
It follows young inventor Tom Swift in 1917 as he secretly builds a large, fast tank for the Allies. Spies and a rival contractor try to steal its secrets, while friends help him test it.
Who is Mr. Damon and why does he bless things?
Mr. Damon is an older friend of Tom's who joins his adventures. He says bless my followed by an object, such as a collar button or a fountain pen, whenever he is surprised.
What are the grippers on Tom's tank?
They are long latticed steel girders carried along the tank's sides. They swing out across a ditch or stream, the tank crawls over them, and then they are pulled back and reused.
The author
Victor Appleton
American collective adventure fiction pseudonym
Victor Appleton was a pen name used by several writers for the Stratemeyer Syndicate, an American book production company. Books published under this name included the Tom Swift series, which began in 1910, and the Moving Picture Boys series. The name does not identify one person with a single lifespan.
More by Victor Appleton
See all their booksMore like this
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