Best Selling Books by James Fenimore Cooper

The Prairie: A Tale (1827) is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, the third novel . Plot--The story opens with Ishmael, his family, Ellen and Abiram slowly making their way across the virgin prairies of the Midwest looking for a homestead, just two years after the Louisiana Purchase, and during the time of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. They meet the trapper (Natty Bumppo), who has left his home in New York state to find a place where he cannot hear the sound of people cutting down the forests. In the years between his other adventures and this novel, he tells us only that he has walked all the way to the Pacific Ocean and seen all the land between the coasts[citation needed] (a heroic feat, considering Lewis and Clark hadn''t yet completed the same trek). That night, a band of Teton warriors steal all of Ishmael''s animals, stranding the immigrants. The doctor returns the next morning along with his donkey. The trapper helps the family relocate their wagons, including one with mysterious contents, to a nearby butte where they will be safer when the Tetons return. Middleton joins the group when he stumbles upon the trapper and Paul. Before they return to the butte, Ishmael and his family go looking for his eldest son, Asa, whom they find murdered. The trapper, Paul, and Middleton return to camp, find Inez whom Abiram and Ishmael had been keeping captive, and flee with her and Ellen. Ishmael chases them until the Tetons capture the Trapper and his crew. They escape the Tetons, and then Ishmael forms an alliance with the Indians. The Indians attempt to recapture the trapper by surrounding them with a prairie fire, but the trapper lights a backfire and saves everyone. They meet up with Hard-heart, a Pawnee Indian who survived the fire wrapped in a buffalo skin, and attempt to escape to his village. The Tetons capture them. Ishmael demands the trapper, Inez, and Ellen for helping the Tetons but is denied and turned away. Mahtoree intends to take Inez and Ellen for his new wives. Le Balafre attempts to spare Hard-heart''s life by making Hard-heart his son. Hard-heart refuses, kills Weucha, and flees the village. When Hard-heart''s Pawnee warriors attack the Teton village, the trapper and his friends escape, only to be captured by Ishmael. The trapper is accused of Asa''s death until Abiram''s guilt is discovered. Abiram is executed, and Ishmael''s family returns east without Inez, Ellen, or the doctor. Middleton, Inez, Paul and Ellen travel back to Louisiana and Kentucky, respectively, while the trapper joins a Pawnee village located on a tributary of the Missouri River. Middleton and Paul return just in time to witness the trapper''s noble death and bury him.Treatment of Indians As with The Last of the Mohicans, one of Cooper''s major themes in The Prairie is the idea of a noble savage. The book contrasts Hard-heart and the Pawnee tribe-who were at peace with the white settlers-to the warlike Tetons. The Tetons are categorically described as cunning, crafty, deceitful, loathsome and dirty. Hard-heart is brave, fierce, and fights to protect his honor. He refuses to abandon his tribe, even if he loses his life for it. In contrast, Le Balafre once abandoned his tribe to become a Teton, thus saving his own life. In the end, Hard-heart is alive while Weucha and Mahtoree are dead. The doctor, horrified at the possibility of being forced to marry an Indian wife, refers to them as a different species, not homo sapiens. The Tetons are frequently referred to as looking like snakes or with other snake symbolism, such as having "forked tongues." Although Cooper''s Indians are frequently stereotypical, so are his white characters. Despite sometimes referring prejudicially to Indians as subhuman, he still presents them in a complex light, a mixture of human and devilish characteristics. Amidst what Cooper describes as primitive or dirty, he lauds their honor, hospitality, laws, etc. ...

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the Leatherstocking Tales. The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario.

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The Pathfinder shows Natty at his old habit of guiding delicate damsels through the dangerous forests. His simple and honest nature is severely tested by his love for a young girl. Chattier than ever before, he shows new mental and moral qualities

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the Leatherstocking Tales. The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario. Composition The Pathfinder was written 13 years after Natty Bumppo had ended his career in The Prairie. Cooper had questioned the wisdom of reviving this hero, and he was at the time engaged in fierce litigations with newspapers. The adventures of the plot on the water take authority from the fact that Cooper had as midshipman actually seen service on Lake Ontario.Plot The Pathfinder shows Natty at his old trick of guiding tender damsels through the dangerous woods, and the siege at the blockhouse and the storm on Lake Ontario are considerably like other of Cooper''s sieges and storms. Natty, in this novel commonly called La Longue Carabine, keeps in a hardy middle age his simple and honest nature, which is severely tested by his love for a young girl. She is a conventional heroine of romance. A certain soft amiability about her turns for a time all the thoughts of the scout to the world of domestic affections. More talkative than ever before, he reveals new mental and moral traits. With the same touch of realism which had kept Uncas and Cora apart in The Last of the Mohicans, Cooper separates these lovers, and sends Natty''s romantic interest to the arms of a younger suitor, restoring the hero to his home in the wilderness. It is the only book in the Leatherstocking series to show Natty Bumppo in love, and the first of Cooper''s books which made important imaginative use of the Great Lakes. James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 - September 15, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. He lived most of his life in Cooperstown, New York, which was founded by his father William on property that he owned. Cooper was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church and, in his later years, contributed generously to it. He attended Yale University for three years, where he was a member of the Linonian Society, but was expelled for misbehavior.Before embarking on his career as a writer, he served in the U.S. Navy as a Midshipman, which greatly influenced many of his novels and other writings. The novel that launched his career was The Spy, a tale about counterespionage set during the Revolutionary War and published in 1821.[3] He also wrote numerous sea stories, and his best-known works are five historical novels of the frontier period known as the Leatherstocking Tales. Among naval historians, Cooper''s works on the early U.S. Navy have been well received, but they were sometimes criticized by his contemporaries. Among his most famous works is the Romantic novel The Last of the Mohicans, often regarded as his masterpiece.

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the Leatherstocking Tales. The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario.The Pathfinder was written 13 years after Natty Bumppo had ended his career in The Prairie. Cooper had questioned the wisdom of reviving this hero, and he was at the time engaged in fierce litigations with newspapers. The adventures of the plot on the water take authority from the fact that Cooper had as midshipman actually seen service on Lake Ontario

First published in 1841, "The Deerslayer" was the last of James Fenimore Cooper''s "Leatherstocking Tales" to be written. Chronologically set first the novel introduces the reader to the hero of the series, the young frontiersmen Natty Bumppo. In this prequel to the later "Leatherstocking Tales," Natty, the "Deerslayer", is at Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, during the years 1740-1745, a time in which the French and Indian Wars were beginning and the advance of civilization began to dominate the landscape of New York State. The story revolves around the conflict that arises between Natty and the Huron tribe when he and his friend Chingachgook attempt to rescue Henry March and Tom Hutter, who have been taken as prisoners by the Huron for attacking and scalping members of the tribe. Absorbing and realistically detailed, "The Deerslayer" is both a romantic adventure and a fascinating glimpse of the colonies in the decades before the American Revolution. The savage violence of the time is contrasted in moving prose with the breathtaking landscape of the New World. This thrilling tale of early American frontier life and adventure completes James Fenimore Cooper''s saga of the "Leatherstocking Tales". This edition is printed on premium acid-free paper.

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper published in 1826. It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences. The Last of the Mohicans is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the Seven Years'' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America. During this war, both the French and the British used Native American allies, but the French were particularly dependent, as they were outnumbered in the Northeast frontier areas by the more numerous British colonists. The novel is primarily set in the upper New York wilderness, detailing the transport of the two daughters of Colonel Munro, Alice and Cora, to a safe destination at Fort William Henry. According to the Encyclopedia of Media and Propaganda in Wartime America, the novel has been one of the "most popular novels in English" since its publication and it remains "widely read in American literature courses". It has been adapted numerous times and in different languages for films, TV movies and cartoons.

The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 is a historical novel written by James Fenimore Cooper in 1826.It is the second book of the Leatherstocking Tales pentalogy and the best known to contemporary audiences.The Pathfinder, published 14 years later in 1840, is its sequel.[2] The Last of the Mohicans is set in 1757, during the French and Indian War (the North American theater of the Seven Years'' War), when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America. During this war, both the French and the British used Native American allies, but the French were particularly dependent, as they were outnumbered in the Northeast frontier areas by British colonists.

Why should you buy this edition? 1. This book is the complete original version, written as intended by the original author. 2. Book is formatted specifically for e-readers 3. Illustrations added to enhance the text About "The Last of the Mohicans (Illustrated)" The Last of the Mohicans: A Narrative of 1757 (1826) by James Fenimore Cooper is a historical novel set during the French and Indian War in 1757. During this time, France and Great Britain fought for control of North America. Both the British and French used Native Americans as allies during the war, but the French relied much more heavily on Native American soldiers due to being outnumbered by British colonists. This novel details the transport of two daughters of a military commander to a friendly military base. Among the primary characters are Chingachgook, who is the titular character. The book overall is a depiction of American society at the time, especially as it pertains to racial relations during this period.

This novel introduces Natty Bumppo as "Deerslayer": a young frontiersman in early 18th-century New York, who objects to the practice of taking scalps, on the grounds that every living thing should follow "the gifts" of its nature, which would keep European Americans from taking scalps. Two characters who actually seek to take scalps are Deerslayer''s foil Henry March (alias "Hurry Harry") and the former pirate ''Floating Tom'' Hutter, to whom Deerslayer is introduced en route to a rendezvous with the latter''s lifelong friend Chingachgook (who first appeared as "Indian John" in The Pioneers). Shortly before the rendezvous, Hutter''s residence is besieged by the indigenous Hurons, and Hutter and March sneak into the camp of the besiegers to kill and scalp as many as they can; but are captured in the act, and later ransomed by Bumppo, Chingachgook, and Hutter''s daughters Judith and Hetty. Bumppo and Chingachgook thereafter plan to rescue Chingachgook''s kidnapped betrothed Wah-ta-Wah (alias ''Hist'') from the Hurons; but, in rescuing her, Bumppo is captured.Hurry struggles with the Indians, but is finally capturedIn his absence, the Hurons invade Hutter''s home, and Hutter is scalped alive. On his deathbed, he confesses that Judith and Hetty were not his daughters by birth, and Judith determines to discover her natural father''s identity; but her search reveals only that her late mother had been of aristocratic descent, and had married ''Floating Tom'' after the collapse of an illicit affair. Later, Judith attempts and fails to rescue Deerslayer; and they are all saved at last when March returns with English reinforcements, who massacre the Hurons and mortally wound Hetty. After Hetty''s death, Judith proposes marriage to Deerslayer, but is refused, and is last described as the paramour of a soldier. Fifteen years later, Bumppo and Chingachgook return to the site to find Hutter''s house in ruins.

The Prairie: A Tale (1827) is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, the 3rd novel written by him featuring Natty Bumppo. His fictitious frontier hero Bumppo is never called by his name, but is instead referred to as "the trapper" or "the old man." Chronologically The Prairie is the 5th & final installment of the Leatherstocking Tales, tho it was published before The Pathfinder (1841) & The Deerslayer (1842). It depicts Natty in the final year of his life still proving helpful to people in distress on the American frontier. The book frequently references characters & events from the two books previously published in the Leatherstocking Tales as well as the two which Cooper wouldn''t write for more than ten years. Continuity with The Last of the Mohicans is indicated by the appearance of the grandson of Duncan & Alice Heyward & the noble Pawnee chief Hard Heart, whose name is English for the French nickname for the Delaware, le Coeur-dur.

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical novel by James Fenimore Cooper, first published in 1840. It is the fourth novel Cooper wrote featuring Natty Bumppo, his fictitious frontier hero, and the third chronological episode of the Leatherstocking Tales. The inland sea of the title is Lake Ontario.

The Pathfinder, or The Inland Sea is a historical romance novel by James Fenimore Cooper. The Pathfinder shows Natty at his old habit of guiding delicate damsels through the dangerous forests. His simple and honest nature is severely tested by his love for a young girl. Chattier than ever before, he shows new mental and moral qualities