Son of the White Wolf, Robert E. Howard

   This is one of several by Robert E. Howard that I've read over the past little while. This one can be found for free at Australia's version of feedbooks.com. There are many other Howard tales available there. This is another El Borak tale in
   The story follows a shift in power in Turkey as Germany's military begins to fail at the end of WWI and the Brits are taking over. A small time leader decides to begin a mad dash for power. He kills the German authority, kills the old men, women, and young children, and kidnaps the women with the intention of starting a new race in an old Pagan religion.
   Howard was a Texan. To be honest, I have a prejudice against Texans. I see them as a lot of racists and Bible thumpers. Howard, of course, being a favorite of my youth, is Texan. So, he is a bit at odds with my prejudices.
   Speaking of prejudices, my radar is perhaps a bit sensitive. Howard writes that villagers 'crept from their hovels to stare in awe at the first white woman most of them had ever seen.' There is this impression that Howard, much like Edgar Rice Burroughs, felt that the white barbarian was the greatest barbarian. The white barbarian has the brains of a white man, and the ferocity of the 'other races.' He is deadly, but still a gentleman with the ladies, unlike the other races.
   So I worry about this sort of thing that would tarnish my impression of this particular Texan. I have sometimes thought that he wasn't really the racist that so many others are. But love is blind, right? Maybe the fact that I liked him particularly well blinds me to the fact that he might have been a raging promoter of the Aryan super race.
   But, while he has often spoken poorly of the Kurds (in this story and another), he did write of the Arabs who fought beside the hero, El Borak. "A stern chivalry was the foundation of their (Arab) society, just as it was among the frontiersmen of early America. There was no sentimentalism about it. It was real and vital as life itself." So, this passage seems to vindicate him at least in respect to the Arab/Muslims.
   Most of Howard's women are rather weak creatures. But as the tale comes to its conclusion, the woman whom he is supposed to know as a German enemy, he actually knows as a British undercover double agent. Borak gives his respect to her. Howard did have some tough women: Red Sonja, Belit (the pirate captain), and Valeria. They weren't just strong women, they were dominant alpha humans who were not the weak things that the men around them were supposed to rescue.
   In fact, that's sort of one of the reasons why I have always been particularly fond of Howard. His women were not the weaklings that so many other authors portray/portrayed them as. In terms of the charge of racism, this jurist needs to weigh more evidence before a conclusion can be reached.