Society and societies lie at the heart of almost all Burroughs's books; indeed, one of his chief strengths derives from his ability to imagine in considerable detail social worlds removed from but parallel to the real world. Whether these societies derive from history, as in the African lost cities founded by ancient Romans or by stranded medieval Crusaders, or from his fertile imagination, as in the wild cities and creatures of Barsoom (Mars), they become convincing through enormous detail of language, social behavior, and tradition. Throughout the Tarzan series, and probably one of the bases of its appeal, runs the constant contrast between the "civilized" world of men and the "uncivilized" world of the jungle. Tarzan of the Apes begins with the worst of society: victims of violent mutineers provoked by a brutal ship's captain, the young Lord and Lady Greystoke become marooned on the coast...