Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success

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Advice Helpful to Women at All Stages of Career

A must read for women in business

Put "personal publicity" on your mentoring agenda!

How To Get To The Top!

Wonderful quotes

Be Your Own Mentor: Strategies from Top Women on the Secrets of Success
Sheila Wellington , and Betty Spence
Manufacturer: Random House
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Women & Business | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Guides | Job Hunting & Careers | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
Motivational | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 037550060X
Release Date: 2001-02-27

Amazon.com

All of us, from birth onward, learn by emulating others. Yet when it comes to our professional lives, we often forget that what we see, we imitate, and what we imitate, we become. This is obviously a positive thing for those who have found successful, encouraging mentors in their fields, but finding those mentors is still much easier for men than for women. In Be Your Own Mentor, Sheila Wellington seeks to provide women not only with advice on locating appropriate mentors, but with the tools to mentor themselves and the opinions, advice, and encouragement of women leaders worth emulating.

Wellington speaks from a broad range of experience. Having spent 20 years working in public health and one term as the first female Secretary of Yale University, she now serves as the president of Catalyst, a nonprofit research organization that works to advance women in business. Catalyst has conducted numerous interviews, surveys, and focus groups on the subject of women succeeding and excelling in their professional lives, and the results of much of that research is included here. CEOs from industry and the nonprofit world, law-firm partners, university presidents, and senior consultants all add their two cents' worth (or more like six figures' worth) to Wellington's observations on everything from planning your career and avoiding being boxed in to learning how to network efficiently and successfully integrate your work life with your home life.

Be Your Own Mentor is jam-packed with informative statistics, useful suggestions, and encouraging reminders--almost to the point of overload. With so many "voices" and so many topics covered, it's easy to feel a little overwhelmed. Despite this organizational drawback, however, this book is a useful tool for women, especially those just starting out. And for the avid emulator, who better to learn from than the likes of Zoe Baird, respected lawyer and president of the Markle Foundation; Betty Beene, president and CEO of United Way of America; Ellen Hancock, chairman and CEO of Exodus Communications; and Anne Mulcahy, president and COO of Xerox Corporation? On that note, the appendix, which provides career-path profiles of each of the pioneers quoted, is one of the most interesting sections of the book. --S. Ketchum

Book Description

Surprising secrets of success from some of America's women leaders; all the things a mentor would tell you are revealed in this mentor-in-a-book. Sheila Wellington, the president of Catalyst, draws on Catalyst research, contacts, and know-how to tell you how to understand the unspoken rules in the real world of work today and how to get ahead.

Catalyst studies reveal that having a mentor is the crucial key to success at work, and it's the single advantage men usually have, and women usually don't. Even at the best organizations for women, there is still a shortage of mentors. Be Your Own Mentor becomes that mentor for you, providing through stories and eye-opening advice a step-by-step guide to advancement. How to master the art of networking, how to create opportunities to gain experience and visibility, how to manage time, how to negotiate salary, and much, much more is discussed, as you learn from leading women how they got where they are, the mistakes they feel they've made along the way, and how they created lives of achievement and satisfaction. Hear from women such as Carly Fiorina (CEO, Hewlett-Packard), Cathleen Black (president, Hearst Magazines), Judith Rodin (president, University of Pennsylvania), and Andrea Jung (president and CEO, Avon). From that first resume all the way to the CEO's office, Be Your Own Mentor guides you along your path to success.

Be Your Own Mentor gives advice from top women on how to:
Devise a short-term and long-term career strategy
Gain visibility in the workplace and in your field
Create opportunities to gain valuable experience
Change your career path
Negotiate salary
Balance work and family
And much, much more...

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Be Your Own Mentor reveals the secrets and savvy business insights of top women in business and acts as a stand-in mentor for readers. From the first resume all the way to the CEO's office, this book guides readers along the path to success. The book describes what a mentor is, why women need one, and offers real-life stories to help women master the art of networking, creating opportunities, time management, salary negotiation, and much more.

Customer Reviews:

Advice Helpful to Women at All Stages of Career.......2001-09-24

I bought the book "Be Your Own Mentor" during a transitional time in my career. The advice offered has provided me with many great ideas on advancing my career. I thought the get ahead basics were especially helpful. As I was looking for a new position, the job search advice helped me to form opinions on how this new position could be a stepping stone to my future. It urged me to take a look at my career as a progression of jobs on my resume. Additionally, Sheila Wllington offered advice that I had not read in traditional job search books. I think this book is helpful to women at all stages of their career whether just starting out or ready for a mid-career change. If you think you need some advice from successful women and need some ideas on how to further your career I highly recommend this book.

A must read for women in business.......2001-07-31

I wish this book had been around when I was just starting out in business. I would be a lot better off today if I had gotten the great advice it gives out. Much of the writing is based on research done at Catalyst, so is fact-based. Shelia Wellington uses her vast experience and connections to give a road map for success for women in the business world. Many nuggets of advice from women who have reached the highest levels in their careers. A must read.

Put "personal publicity" on your mentoring agenda!.......2001-05-18

Being your own mentor is a critical concept and certainly includes mastering the art of networking. But a good self-mentoring plan must also include achieving corporate and community visibility. To really take charge of your career there is no substitute for creating a strategic 'personal' publicity plan. Your boss won't do it, and neither will your mentor. It is up to YOU. People have to know who you are, what you stand for, and why they should hire you, promote you, or do business with you. That's really taking charge of your career.

How To Get To The Top!.......2001-03-10

I wish I'd had Be Your Own Mentor years ago. It's chock-full of what to do when you're trying to get ahead at work, with do's and don'ts I've not heard anywhere else. It explains the kinds of jobs that will take you to the top and tells you which won't. And something else it does that you can't get elsewhere: women at the top (like Carly Fiorina of Hewlett Packard) tell you what to do when specific problems arise at work -- like how to land an assignment you want, or what to do when you meet bias, or how to get people who can help you on your side. Includes useful tips on building credibility and taking charge of how you're perceived, or for getting out of a dead end situation with a difficult boss, plus sensible advice about dealing with guilt as you're balancing personal life and work. You gain access to many wise women -- the older sisters everyone needs, who genuinely want to help you reach your goals. My son says most of the career tips will work for him, too, but women especially can use this practical, smart advice book by Spence and Wellington all through their careers.

Wonderful quotes.......2001-03-05

This is an interesting book, perfect for people just out of school or in the first 2-3 years of a career. The advice in the book is solid, and the quotes from the pioneer women are especially interesting and informative. It is refreshing to hear their perspectives, and they provide wonderful information, ideas, and a sense of sisterhood.

My main complaint about the book is there is no new information or anything groundbreaking. Most of the author's ideas are obvious, and she should let the pioneer women speak some more.

Overall, I would recommend this book to young women just starting out who are not quite sure what to expect or if they are on the right track. The pioneer quotes are worth the price of the book.

Average customer rating:
Developing your own Mentoring Program.(An Advertising Supplement to the San Fdero Valley Business Journal): An article from: San Fernando Valley Business Journal
Barton Goldsmith
Manufacturer: CBJ, L.P.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
General | Business & Investing | Subjects | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B00082DWDM
Release Date: 2005-07-31

Book Description

This digital document is an article from San Fernando Valley Business Journal, published by CBJ, L.P. on March 15, 2004. The length of the article is 559 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Developing your own Mentoring Program.(An Advertising Supplement to the San Fdero Valley Business Journal)
Author: Barton Goldsmith
Publication: San Fernando Valley Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: March 15, 2004
Publisher: CBJ, L.P.
Volume: 9 Issue: 6 Page: 16(1)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Handbook for Corporate Diversity.(Brief Article)(Review) (book review): An article from: Chief Executive (U.S.)

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Handbook for Corporate Diversity.(Brief Article)(Review) (book review): An article from: Chief Executive (U.S.)
Robert Lear
Manufacturer: Chief Executive Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Chief Executive (U.S.), published by Chief Executive Publishing on June 1, 2001. The length of the article is 792 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Handbook for Corporate Diversity.(Brief Article)(Review) (book review)
Author: Robert Lear
Publication: Chief Executive (U.S.) (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 1, 2001
Publisher: Chief Executive Publishing
Page: 61

Article Type: Brief Article, Book Review

Distributed by Thomson Gale

How to Start and Manage Your Own Business (Mentor executive library)

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How to Start and Manage Your Own Business (Mentor executive library)
Gardiner G. Greene
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0451621751

Leading the way: pick-your-own mentor programs help new employees move ahead.(STAFF SMARTS) : An article from: Entrepreneur

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Leading the way: pick-your-own mentor programs help new employees move ahead.(STAFF SMARTS) : An article from: Entrepreneur
Mark Henricks
Manufacturer: Thomson Gale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital
ASIN: B000CEXGPU
Release Date: 2005-11-23

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Entrepreneur, published by Thomson Gale on August 1, 2005. The length of the article is 646 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Leading the way: pick-your-own mentor programs help new employees move ahead.(STAFF SMARTS)
Author: Mark Henricks
Publication: Entrepreneur (Magazine/Journal)
Date: August 1, 2005
Publisher: Thomson Gale
Volume: 33 Issue: 8 Page: 77(2)

Distributed by Thomson Gale

Travels You Might Not Make on Your Own (Mentor Series, American Photo)

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Travels You Might Not Make on Your Own (Mentor Series, American Photo)

Manufacturer: SWC Editions/Great Circle Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0972769676

Product Description

Photographic journeys of a lifetime...experiencing exotic destinations in the US and abroad with some of th world's most famous photographers, sharing tips, shooting great photos and, most importantly, sharing fun times. With this book we share our memories of great explorations through the camera lens and beyond...

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Be Your Own Mentor
Anne Bruce
Manufacturer: McGraw-Hill
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0071487778

Book Description

A proven, do-it-yourself formula for greater professional and personal success

Successful career and life coach Anne Bruce knows how you can find happiness, fulfillment, and success at work and in life-and it's not by hiring a coach! Be Your Own Mentor delivers a unique, do-it-yourself process for identifying your hidden talents, abilities, and passions and developing them on your own.

Bruce's four-part approach empowers you to get where you want in life by adopting a free-agent mindset, taking intelligent risks and building self-esteem, setting a course for balance in work and life, and discovering and developing your personal strengths.

Mentor Me: A Guide to Being Your Own Best Advocate in the Workplace

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Mentor Me: A Guide to Being Your Own Best Advocate in the Workplace
Joanne Lozar Glenn
Manufacturer: National Business Education Association
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Business Life | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Workplace | Organizational Behavior | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 0933964609

Book Description

This age of fierce competition and technological leaps has undermined the traditional ways of doing business. In The New Magnet Marketing, John R. Graham reveals how to solve one of the most enduring problems any business faces--how to attract customers and make them want to do business with you time and time again.

Customer Reviews:

Good, but beware if you have the first Magnet Marketing.......2002-02-12

This book has excellent ideas to get you to think long term about marketing and position. There are specific suggestions for attracting and retaining customers. HOWEVER, if you own the original Magnet Marketing, don't be fooled into thinking the New Magnet Marketing has new concepts. In fact, it is the EXACT SAME book with a few words changed to update it. ALL the chapters, concepts, etc... are virtually word for word the original Magnet Marketing. If you never read the original, you can use this. If you have the original, don't bother.

Not Indispensable but Certainly of Substantial Value.......2001-01-05

Graham's "fast-track strategy" may not "put your company on top" but it CAN help you and your associates to answer key questions such as these:

1. What are the major differences between sales and marketing? Why are these differences so important to understand?

2. Why are most traditional selling strategies and skills no longer effective?

3. How can we identify the largest market of prime prospects to buy what we sell?

4. What are the most effective strategies for press relations? (That is, what are the best ways to maximize publicity for our company?)

5. How can newsletters, brochures, and direct mail be used to maximum advantage?

6. Exactly what is segmented database marketing? What its unique functions, features, and benefits?

7. For those with limited resources, what are the most effective Internet strategies to consider?

8. What are the major obstacles to "creative thinking"? How can they be overcome?

9. What are Graham's 17 "Laws"?

10. What are his "Ten Commandments for Losing Customers"?

Graham offers sensible answers to all of these questions. What I find remarkable is the fact that, after accumulating more than 30 years of real-world experience in both sales and marketing, Graham seems to have concluded that most of the "lessons" (ie "Commandments") he learned are either wrong or inadequate. (See Chapter 2, "Challenging the Traditional Wisdom.") He has assembled a "How to Do It" manual in which he examines the wide range of subjects indicated by the 10 questions previously listed. Graham's use of the magnet metaphor is apt because it correctly suggests the importance of both attracting customers and keeping them. In this book, he explains HOW.

Book Description

`Provides a useful overview of developments in early childhood education research in the countries included and interesting comparative data for further study and analysis. It should prove a useful resource book for the growing number of early childhood professionals and practitioners identified in the book, who are contributing to or have the potential to contribute to research in this field'- International Journal of Early Years Education

Providing an overview of early childhood education research, the contributors to to this book provide information on: who undertakes research; where findings are published; their impact on the field; levels of research funding; and links between researchers. The book highlights the main research agendas of the respective countries, and includes a special chapter on the strengths, weaknesses and future of comparative research in education. This book is written by leading representatives of the field of early childhood education and research in eight European Countries - Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdon. It builds on the earlier publication edited by Tricia David, Educational Provision for Our Youngest Children: European Perspectives, which provided information about early childhood education systems and their histories in different countries.

Book Description

Since the early days of integrated pest management a sound ecological foundation has been considered essential for the development of effective systems. From time to time, there have been attempts to evaluate the ways in which ecological theory is exploited in pest control, and to review the lessons that ecologists learn from pest management. In the last 20 years there have been many developments within the contribution of ecological theory to integrated pest management. This book captures some of the new themes in both pest management and ecology that have emerged and provides an updated assessment of the role that basic ecology plays in the development of rational and sustainable pest management practices. Major themes are examined, assessing the significance and potential impact of recent technological and conceptual developments for the future of integrated pest management.

Book Description

Blasting principles for open pit mining deals with both the engineering and the scientific aspects of blasting with special application to open pit mining. Blasting principles has been divided into two volumes. Volume 1 entitled Principles of blast design is intended to introduce the reader to the basic engineering concepts and building blocks which make up a blast design. It consist of ten chapters: a historical perspective; The fragmentation system concept; Explosives as a source of fragmentation energy; Preliminary blast design guidelines; Drilling patterns and hole sequencing; Drop cut design; Bulk blasting agents; Initiation systems; Ground motion, air blast and flyrock; Perimeter blasting. Volume 2 entitled Theoretical foundations is intended to provide the reader additional depth and breadth for better understanding some of the fundamental concepts involved in rock blasting. It consists of 11 chapters: Fundamentals of explosives; Blasting in the absence of a free face; The effect of the shock wave; Attenuation; Spherical charges; Cylindrical charges; Decoupling; Heave; Livingston crater theory; Hydrodynamic-based models; Selected Russian contributions.

Book Description

This monograph is accessible to anyone with an undergraduate background in quantum mechanics, electromagnetism and some solid state physics. It describes in detail the properties of particles and fields in quasi-two-dimensional systems used to approximate realistic quantum heterostructures. Here the authors treat wires, i.e. they assume an infinite hardwall potential for the system. They discuss bound states, the properties of transmission and reflection, conductance, etc. It is shown that the simple models developed in this book in detail are capable of understanding even complex physical phenomena. The methods are applied to optical states in photonic crystals, and similarities and differences between those and electronic states in quantum heterostructures and electromagnetic fields in waveguides are discussed.

Book Description

When Tarzan is orphaned as a baby deep in the African jungle, the apes adopt him and raise him as their own. By the time the boy is ten, he can swing through the trees and talk to the animals. By the time he is eighteen, he has the strength of a lion and rules the apes as their king. But Tarzan knows he's different. Will he ever discover his true identity?

From the Trade Paperback edition.

Customer Reviews:

Meeting Tarzan the Ape Man again, for the First Time.......2006-06-07

We all know Tarzan the Ape Man...some of us grew up with him...but how many of really know him...really, really know him...in other words,how many of us have ever read the book?

Approaching 60 I read it for the first time, and found it thoroughly delightful. Escapist? Yes! Plausible? No! Escapist Fantasy? Imminently so...

In reading Tarzan of the Apes for the first time, you learn how things really did come to be....and you come to a great appreciation of Edgar Rice Burroughs' ability to create a society within the animal kingdom..The names and personalities of the Apes and other animals. Neat stuff--andthe need to suspend realism here is no greater than it is for parts of Dan Brown's bestseller "Angels and Demons," the part about anti-matter or some such creation...

And Tarzan--what a guy...and did you know he doesn't get the girl (Jane, of course) in the first book? Someone else does...and to be able to teach himself to read and write by studying and lookin g at books..what an IQ!!!

And the best line of all may be when, after all the feelings of adolescence, he finally holds Jane in his arms for the first time..."Without training, he did what any redblooded male would do, he held her in his arms and covered her upturned lips with kisses....."

Didn't know ole Edgar Rice had it in him...didn't know a lot of things until I read the book. A little knowledge can be a dangerous thing...In this case, a little knowledge about Tarzan can keep you from reading and enjoying a perfectly delightful escapist fantasy, a good story.

Adventure on a grand scale.......2004-04-01

There has been so much ink spilt over ERB and his most popular creation, Tarzan, that there is nothing for me to add. I just want to take this moment to doff my hat to ERB. What an imagination! Opening almost any Burroughs book is like peeking into a box filled with wonders. Yes, the language is difficult to take sometimes, and there are archaisms in scientific and cultural areas that make a modern reader wince, but who wouldn't want to read a book filled with all the action and adventure you could possibly desire! Books where the hero wins the heart of The Most Beautiful Woman on the Planet/Island/Core/Wherever, where by the strength of his sword arm he wins kingdoms and the devotion of other warriors, where pirates and green six-armed martians do battle, where dinosaurs walk, and great apes talk. Of course, I could go on and on. In this increasingly cynical world, it helps to escape to a place called Barsoom and fight rebel Tharks. It helps to think that somewhere, bad guys are trembling because one man carrying nothing but a knife is coming, inexorably, and when he arrives justice will be done. Sigh. I think I will take the rest of the day off and take to the literary trees.

ERB's Wordly Knowledge Shines.......2002-02-19

Edgar Rice Burroughs was once described as one of the greatest undiscovered great American treasures. I'm not sure about undiscovered, but that he is a treasure is certainly true.

From the very first part of Tarzan of the Apes, the story is presented as entirely plausable. ERB's outdoorsmanship combines well with his historical knowledge.

One of the funniest pictures he paints in the first book is his lurking over a pair of old Boston Scholars in the jungles, keeping them alive by thwarting various hungry critters while they obliviously discuss the fall of the Islamic Calliphate in Iberia circa 1492, and it's effects on the Rainaissance...

ERB's sense of Honour, Duty and Loyalty shine through, and this novel succeeds in teaching the those values, what they mean and why the are important as only one other book I've read (StarshipTroopers, Heinlein).

IMHO, ERB's first two volumes of Tarzan should be required reading.

genuinely exciting and enormous fun to read.......2000-11-26

There are certain books and authors that have an inordinate impact on our lives. Often as not, their particular significance to us as individuals extends far beyond that which they would have to anyone else and sometimes, if we return to them at a different point in our own lives, it can be hard to recapture why they should have seemed so momentous in the first place. One of the authors who really turned me into a reader was Edgar Rice Burroughs and I am ecstatic to find that his books are just as terrific in real life as they are in boyhood memories.

I still vividly recall the cover of Tarzan and the Ant Men, a book which I read and reread in around 5th or 6th grade. It was one of those cheesy 50 cent paperbacks (now they would cost you at least $5.99) and it featured the Lord of the Jungle surrounded by spear wielding pygmies, It was just so ripe with the promise of adventure that, to this day, I can not imagine a human being gazing upon its glory and not being consumed by a desire to read the book. And once you read one, you were faced with a plethora of riches. There are 26 Tarzan novels and myriad movies; plus there was an excellent comic book version and a Saturday morning cartoon at that point. Then there were Burroughs's other series, my particular favorites being the Pellucidar books and John Carter, Warlord of Mars. You could practically read nothing but Burroughs and go for years before having to start rereading stuff. But, of course, the great thing about getting a kid hooked on reading is that one author leads to another. Soon I was mowing down Jules Verne books (see review of Around the World in Eighty Days) and the adventures of Doc Savage, The Avenger, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger, etc., not to mention Tolkein and C.S. Lewis (see review of The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe).

So imagine my pleasure when I found this old Ballantine Books paperback of Tarzan of the Apes, with a cover by Neal Adams showing an enraged Tarzan racing towards a screeching great ape who is grasping a seductively disheveled Jane by her flowing blonde locks. It's amazing, you haven't read a word yet and already your pulse is racing. Then open the book and, wonder of wonders, it's every bit as thrilling and wonderful as I remembered it. Shipwrecks, mutinies, buried treasure, lion attacks, hostile tribesmen, and most of all the ape pack and the herculean efforts of one lost little boy to survive in the forbidding wilds of Africa--what more could a reader want in a book?

Tarzan is one of a small group of fictional characters--the others being Frankenstein, Dracula and Sherlock Holmes--created in the last 200 years who have acquired lives of their own, far outlasting their creators to be constantly reprised and reimagined. If we examine this quartet, they are united by one central theme; each represents man's desire to in some way control nature. Frankenstein is, of course, an expression of our aspiration towards godhood (see Orrin's review), the dream of creating life. Dracula expresses the desire to escape death and achieve immortality. Holmes embodies our hope that pure reason will yield the solutions to life's mysteries. And Tarzan, in all his Darwinian glory, is an assertion of the inevitability that it would be man who rose to the top of the evolutionary totem pole. Each, thus, strikes a chord deep in our being. But what makes them transcendent and fascinating, generation after generation, is the element of uncertainty that each contains. Frankenstein is obviously an experiment run amok. Dracula's immortality comes at an unbearable price. Holmes's hyper-rational mind requires the stimulation of drugs to battle boredom. And Tarzan is trapped uneasily between the civilized and the savage worlds. In this context he implicates two issues, one obvious--man's control over nature, the other less so--the effect of civilization on mankind.

As to the first issue, I was pleasantly surprised at the recent Disney version of Tarzan. In light of films like Pocahontas and Lion King, I just expected it to be politically correct pabulum. That implicit message of Tarzan--that man naturally and rightfully rules nature, disposing of its bounty at his will--is so anathema to the environmentalist hegemony of our times that you sort of had to assume that Disney would eviscerate the story. They did alter it substantially, particularly by not having Tarzan fight Kerchak to become leader of the ape pack, but they left enough of the basic tale intact to satisfy all but the most fanatic ERBites. And, at the end of the day, you can argue about the propriety of man controlling the environment and exploiting nature, but it is pretty hard to argue against the power of Burrough's metaphorical image of the youthful human Tarzan becoming the Lord of the Jungle. Simply taken as a cultural symbol, Tarzan is fascinating, a modern myth comparable to any ancient one.

On the second issue, Tarzan's unique upbringing and his very role as the hero of these books along with the helplessness displayed by "civilized" whites when they enter the jungle, raises the question of whether civilization is simply a veneer which we could drop if necessary (as London implies in Call of the Wild [see review] and The Sea Wolf [see review]) or whether civilization strips away something primal and valuable in our natures. In a famous essay on the Tarzan books, Gore Vidal asserts that:

a good many people find their lives so unsatisfactory that they go right on year after year telling themselves stories in which they are able to dominate their environment in a way that is not possible in this overorganized society

His snitty point is about domination and what losers the readers of these books must be (of course, he more than likely spent his closeted youth reading Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm and look how he turned out), but it is the "overorganized society" part of this comment that is the most interesting, obliquely pointing out the subtext of the weakening influence of modern society on mankind. If we accept Darwin's theory of survival of the fittest--which we will for the sake of this discussion--then what happens when the threats to our survival are removed, or at the very least reduced? Tarzan suggests the possibility that the pressures of the fight for survival forge a stronger man than the advances of modern civilization can hope to compete with.

It is with this perspective that we can perceive the irony that Tarzan--the son of an English Lord, raised in Africa--is the quintessential American hero. Embodying the elements of rugged individualism and self-reliance, he is an archetype in the tradition of Natty Bumpo. It is no surprise then that this series of books is probably the most successful and popular in all of American Literature.

But enough analysis. The important thing about these books is that they are genuinely exciting and are enormous fun to read.

GRADE: A+

Gets Your Mind in Gear.......2000-09-06

This book brings Tarzan to life. I enjoyed it and read it many times. Everyone must wonder what it's like to grow up in a jungle and now you can read it. Very cool book.

Writer at BellaOnline

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