Tom Swift in the City of Gold [with Biographical Introduction]

Tom Swift Sr. #11

by Victor Appleton

Tom Swift in the City of Gold [with Biographical Introduction]

Genres: Fiction, Science Fiction, Childrens, Adventure

144 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1912

About the author

Victor Appleton was a house pseudonym used by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and its successors, most famous for being associated with the Tom Swift series of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_...

The character of Tom Swift was conceived in 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging company. Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventure. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift books by first preparing an outline with all the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published under the house name of Victor Appleton. Edward Stratemeyer and Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes in the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first Tom Swift series ended in 1941.
In 1954, Harriet Adams created the Tom Swift, Jr., series, which was published under the name "Victor Appleton II". Most titles were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The Tom Swift, Jr., series ended in 1971.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Swift

Reviews

[Ernest Hogan · Rating 3 out of 5]

An airship, an underground city, lazy and nefarious Mexicans, headhunters. A curious artifact from a racist past.

[Tom · Rating 4 out of 5]

The tradition of Tom Swift books is that a character from one book initiates the story of the next book. In Tom Swift in the City of Gold, Mr. Illingway, a missionary who Tom rescued in Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle, sends a letter to Tom about a gold statue he saw where he was working in Africa. Another missionary had brought it to Africa from some city of gold in Mexico. Unfortunately, this other missionary was now deceased. Information on the location of the city was fuzzy. Despite the briefness of their encounter in the previous book, Mr. Illingway saw in Tom the combination of greed and adventure necessary for tracking down more gold. Perhaps it was his missionary training that allowed him to read people.

While Tom was reading the letter from Mr. Illingway to Tom's father and frequent visitor Mr. Damon in the library, Tom didn’t know that Andy Foger was in the adjacent room, the parlor, listening. Andy was there to give a letter from his father to Mr. Swift. So, Andy overheard everything about the city of gold. That Swift home must be a nice place to live. It has a library and a parlor!

The story goes on from there. Tom creates a new airship for the trip. From its description, it sounds like the Goodyear blimp. Tom and his friends head off to Mexico to hunt for buried treasure, although the treasure was not just in a hole in the ground. The entire city of gold was underground, apparently part of the Aztec empire.

Tom actually rescued Andy in the previous book, and Andy was very grateful at the time. However, in this book, he returns to his villainy ways, almost resulting in the deaths of Tom and his pal Ned before they even get to Mexico. Andy and Mr Foger together are a menace to Tom in this book. Another danger is a group of Mexicans who actually help Tom and his friends for awhile before turning bad. There is also a tribe of headhunters who don’t want to help Tom. They just want to help themselves to his head. Mr. Illingway warned Tom about them before the trip. Imagine the trouble that could ensue if the three groups teamed up.

In this book, the African American Eradicate Sampson continues his evolution. He starts out as an itinerant colored worker who whitewashes fences. (In this book, he also accidentally whitewashes Andy Foger.) Later, he becomes a handyman employee of the Swifts. In this book, he joins Tom, Mr. Damon, and Tom’s pal Ned Newton in the adventure. He makes important contributions to the group and its goals.

As these books were written in the first part of the twentieth century when modern sensibilities were not a concern, there was no hesitation by Tom in stealing ancient gold relics. He actually promised a couple to Mary Nestor, his lady friend. I suppose stealing inanimate objects in an underground city is better than robbing the graves of ancient people.

So be sure to read Tom Swift in the City of Gold. The book has invention, treasure, near-death experiences — all the fun you expect when reading about Tom Swift.

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

The unapologetic looting and brazen racism is both horrifying and (from a historical perspective) fascinating. It’s like watching a train wreck.

[Ben Goodridge · Rating 2 out of 5]

There's a big red bookstore in a massive barn a few miles down the road, the sort of place that's about 100 degrees in summer, where you can wander for hours. One of the little rooms inside was pretty much floor to ceiling Stratemeyer Syndicate books, and, after my adventures with the Rover Boys, I made up my mind that I wouldn't leave that bookstore without owning at least one of them.

I settled on a 104-year-old Tom Swift book. After the unintentional hilarity that was the Rover Boys, I wasn't exactly breathless with confidence that this one would deliver an edifying literary experience, in part because Tom Swift is pretty much synonymous with overmodified prose. But Tom Swift is in a different strata of kid-lit.

Swift is a boy inventor who tinkers with flying machines and fast vehicles. His inventions have a ring of plausibility about them, and he did inspire a generation of science fiction authors. This is what Isaac Asimov used to read as a kid in the 1920s and 1930s. And I'll give the stories their due - "The City of Gold" lacks the tiresome repetition of the Rover Boys or the Hardy Boys. The story never gives you the impression that it's just trying to fill a page count. And, whatever its merits, it is a part of literary history, for better or worse.

Stratemeyer remains a sparkling fountain of cringing racism, this time adding Mexicans to his growing list of foreigners which terrify him. In this particular volume, he adds a form of colonialism bordering on entitlement, in which Swift and his friends simply march into a foreign country and strip it of several centuries-old archaeological treasures that they simply took a fancy to, after which their ham-fistedness destroys most of the site. Shaping the youth of tomorrow, Stratemeyer was.

Still, the writing isn't as dire as its reputation. Instead of cringing at its content, at least appreciate how far we've come, and how such a book might be written today. There were points in the story where I could practically hear the Indiana Jones theme. I'm sure that wasn't an accident.

[David Hibberd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read the Tom Swift Sr. books as a child and again when I got my Kindle in 2010. They are an easy read and enjoyable. It is interesting to see how writing has changed since these books were written.

[Benjamin Guthrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

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[Tiffany Tinkham · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really good old classic young readers book about a young inventor that invents this awesome inventions and then goes on these wild and crazy adventures, sometimes getting into trouble in the process.