Boxall's 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die discussion

I loved it alot and thought it fit into the era it was written really well and is a rousing adventure to boot.

While Tarzan of the Apes started the ball rolling, I always felt that The Return of Tarzan topped it. In fact, of the 50+ novels that Burroughs wrote, I'd say that The Return was his apex. Still candy, yes--I don't know if Tarzan belongs on this list, other than as the genesis of a cultural icon known around the world. but there's no doubt that at one time, he was enormously popular.

I’m surprised to see that this was published as late as 1912. It’s views on class, gender and race felt very 1880’s to me. It reminded me of King Solomon’s mines (1885).
In comparison, The last of the Mohicans (which has somewhat similar views as this novel) was published in 1826, and The call of the wild (which felt much more modern) was published in 1903.

Burroughs was writing for a mass audience which held the same views: and to some extent he agreed with them (although he really liked the Apaches he met while briefly in the US Cavalry, and despised the white settlers).

In some of the later novels black Africans get a more favorable treatment. See Tarzan and the Ant-Men, wherein we learn that Tarzan has been taking flying lessons in order to keep up with members of the Waziri tribe of whom he is the titular king (long story), who have qualified as pilots. Typically, Tarzan manages to get lost during a solo flight.

Burroughs was always vague on geography. Waziristan was a place in British India. And the magazine version of Tarzan of the Apes included Sabor (the tiger), whose beautiful pelt Tarzan covets. By the time the book was published Sabor had become the ape word for a lioness, with a plain skin.