Back to the Stone Age

What It's About

This is a pulp adventure set in Pellucidar, the sunless, prehistoric world imagined to exist inside the hollow Earth. It is the fifth book in the Pellucidar series. The story follows an outsider thrown into this savage land, where he must survive hostile tribes, huge prehistoric animals and the reptilian Mahars and their Sagoth servants. It is episodic in structure, moving from one perilous encounter to the next. It is also one of the shorter and more lightly regarded entries in the series, valued mainly for its pace and its inventive creatures.

Key Concepts

The book draws on the hollow Earth idea, a staple of Victorian and early twentieth-century speculative fiction, and the "lost world" tradition of finding prehistoric life in a hidden corner of the planet. Pellucidar's permanent noon sun means there is no night and no easy way to measure time, which adds to the disorientation. The recurring themes are survival against overwhelming odds, the clash between human tribes and the intelligent reptilian Mahars, and the thrill of exploring an unmapped world.

About the Author

Edgar Rice Burroughs (1875–1950) was an American writer born in Chicago. He came to writing relatively late, after a string of short-lived jobs and military service, and became one of the most commercially successful pulp authors of the twentieth century. His fast-paced adventure and science fiction stories were published in magazines before appearing in book form, and his imaginative settings influenced generations of later genre writers.