General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1912 Original Publisher: Grosset
Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, on the border fo...
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3.0 out of 5 stars
A visit to a time gone by,
By
This review is from: Tom Swift and His Great Searchlight; or, on the border for Uncle Sam (Dodo Press) (Paperback)
The Tom Swift series, and other children's books from the early twentieth century, will probably not enthrall today's technologically sophisticated youngsters. But the Swift books convey a sense of what technology was and how middle-American society operated a hundred years ago. In Tom Swift's day, families were expected to inhabit houses surrounded by lawns and gardens and to have barns in which to house a horse or two, or in Tom Swift's case, to carry out exciting engineering projects. The lack of light-speed amenities such as the Internet, cell phones, jet aircraft, and the like produced stories that proceed at a leisurely pace that may induce in today's reader a sense of relaxed nostalgia more than a sense of high adventure.The Swift series ostensibly deals with a youngster of great technical talent, who turns out a new engineering marvel every few months. But the books are notable for their total lack of technical detail. Indeed, the reader has to work diligently even to get an idea what the various ingenious devices might look like. In the case of the great searchlight, we have no idea how large it is or the principle of its operation. Apparently, some fortuitous misconnection of wiring had produced a new kind of electric current that enabled an otherwise ordinary light source to produce extremely bright rays. The resulting searchlight is then deployed to apprehend some smugglers by being conveyed along the Canadian border in one of Tom's "aeroplanes." This is a craft that operates either as a sort of conventional plane or as a dirigible, depending on what the avionic situation calls for. How the thing is switched between depending on airfoils and propellers for its locomotion and relying on a gas bag is not gone into. In fact, it's hard to imagine the two modes of operation functioning efficiently in the same vehicle. But the books aren't about engineering details. They're about the adventures they engendered and through which Tom Swift and his colleagues were able to subdue various sorts of bad guys at home and abroad. They do this very well, with almost no bloodshed and nothing but the most gentlemanly deportment on the part of Tom and his colleagues. Some readers may be taken aback by the depiction of Tom's handyman, Eradicate Sampson. This gentleman was depicted in the manner common to the early nineteen hundreds wherein African Americans were drawn as comically uneducated, ineffectual figures, speaking what used to be referred to as "coon talk." Mr. Sampson is loyal and reasonably industrious but seems a gratuitous attempt at comic relief.
5.0 out of 5 stars
TOM SWIFT AND HIS GREAT SEARCH LIGHT,
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What a great story of old times; puts you right into the story. So enlightening, so refreshing, so enjoyable!
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