The Deerslayer

James Fenimore Cooper

The Deerslayer - a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, an American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances depicting frontier and Native American life created a unique form of American literature.   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 and the former pirate 'Floating Tom' Hutter, to whom Deerslayer is introduced en route to a rendezvous with the latter's lifelong friend Chingachgook. 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.

The Deerslayer. or The First War-path

James Fenimore Cooper

The Deerslayer is an exciting story about the adventures of the woodsman known as Deerslayer and his Delaware Indian friend, Chingachgook. The novel presents the violence and unpredictability of life in a place where only a few white hunters and hunting parties of Indians have ever set foot. The interface between the wilderness and civilization, the pristine life of nature and the impact being made on it by human beings, makes this a fascinating story about a clash of values, a conflict which continued to shape the North American continent for the remainder of the century and beyond.

The Headsman. The Abbaye des Vignerons

James Fenimore Cooper

The events of the novel take place not on the American continent, but in the very heart of Europe. Almost all the characters in the novel are forced in extreme circumstances to reveal themselves in a new light: some, with all their desire, cannot disguise their meanness, greed, inner readiness for betrayal, others show the highest nobility and purity of human qualities.

The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper

The Last of the Mohicans - a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, an American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances depicting frontier and Native American life created a unique form of American literature.   The novel is set primarily in the area of Lake George, New York, detailing the transport of the two daughters of Colonel Munro, Alice and Cora, to a safe destination at Fort William Henry. Among the caravan guarding the women are the frontiersman Natty Bumppo, Major Duncan Heyward, and the Indians Chingachgook and Uncas, the latter two being the novel's title characters. These characters are sometimes seen as a microcosm of the budding American society, particularly with regard to their racial composition.

The Last of the Mohicans. A Narrative of 1757

James Fenimore Cooper

Fenimore Cooper is known for everyone who were interested in Indians and their life in childhood. Almost everyone knows the name of Coopers favorite hero, wandering from novel to novel Natanael, Bampo. The hero of The Last of the Mohicans is Hawkeye. The last members of a dying Native American tribe, the Mohicans Uncas, his father Chingachgook, and his adopted half-white brother Hawkeye live in peace alongside British colonists. But when the daughters of a British colonel are kidnapped by a traitorous scout, Hawkeye and Uncas must rescue them in the crossfire of a gruesome military conflict of which they wanted no part: the French and Indian War.

The Monikins

James Fenimore Cooper

Monikins is a serious and caustic satire on the social mores of England and America at that time. Cooper ridicules both the aristocratic monarchy and the bourgeois republic with equal vigor. The first part of Monikins depicts the early years of John Goldencalf. John Goldencalf, by coincidence, is one of the wealthiest people in Europe of the nineteenth century.

The Oak Openings. Or, The Bee-Hunter

James Fenimore Cooper

In this book you will find a description of the life and way of life of the indigenous inhabitants of the country Indians and white settlers; numerous hunting scenes. The novel will not leave indifferent either those who appreciate the sharp, constantly in suspense plot, or those who are interested in the conditions under which the development of the American continent was carried out at the beginning of the last century.

The Pathfinder. or The Inland Sea

James Fenimore Cooper

In the third installment of the Leatherstocking Tales, Cooper takes his main character, here called the Pathfinder (Natty Bumppo) and examines his role as an explorer for British/Colonial forces in the forests and islands around the Great Lakes. The story is a classic historical adventure/romance and Bumppo falls in love, for the first and only time in the five novels, only to see his choice fall in love with another man a younger man and good friend of Nattys. The Pathfinder remains a classic and entertaining account of the American wilderness and of aspects of human experience in the New World. Probably the best of the five Leatherstocking novels.

The Pilot. A Tale of the Sea

James Fenimore Cooper

In The Pilot (1824), James Fenimore Cooper invented a new literary genre: the sea novel. Bold, vigorous, original, it is a tale of high adventure that vividly captures the majesty and power of the seafaring life. Cooper drew on his direct knowledge of ships and sailors to present a truer picture of life on the sea than had ever before achieved in literature. As a boy of seventeen he had experienced the life of a common seaman, learned the craft of sailing, encountered terrifying storms, was chased by pirates, and watched the impressment of crew members by a British man-of-war.The Pilot is loosely based upon stories of John Paul Joness daring hit-and-run tactics during the Revolutionary War. The shadowy hero, modeled on Jones, leads a squadron of the infant American navy in a series of raids on the English coast, braving fierce storms and the guns of hostile warships, yet never revealing his identity. In this novel Cooper introduced the character of the old salt, the seasoned deckhand happy only aboard ship.

The Pioneers. or The Sources of the Susquehanna

James Fenimore Cooper

The fourth of the Leatherstocking novels, we find Leatherstocking (Natty Bumppo) entering the last stages of his life. He has lost a great deal of his effectiveness with his musket and now relies a great deal on his dog to help him hunting. The main focus is one two things: 1. the reinstatement of Nattys old commander in his properties and wealth in the new US while believing he is the victim of treachery by his old friend the judge in this story; and 2. Nattys struggle with and disgust about the developing societal rules that limit his freedom in hunting, trapping and fishing in the wilderness as he has his whole life. Good story on both accounts. In The Pioneers, James Fenimore Cooper thematically debates the complexity of landscape within a new American frontier. The battle between nature and civilization is a constant and competing force within the minds of the characters and in the general surroundings.

The Prairie. A Tale

James Fenimore Cooper

The Prairie: A Tale (1827) is a novel by James Fenimore Cooper, the 3rd novel written by him featuring Natty Bumppo. Civilization drives old hunter Natty Bumppo (Leatherstocking) west of the Mississippi to the prairies, where he becomes a trapper and helps a band of emigrants in their conflicts with Indians, miscreants, and the harsh environment. We find Hawkeye removed to the uncharted territory which would become Wyoming and the Dakotas. Having fled the relentless sound of axes hewing down his beloved forests in the east, the Leatherstocking is now in his eighties and has isolated himself in the land of the Pawnee, the Sioux and countless herds of buffalo. Culminating in a magnificently written death scene, The Prairie brings the old hunter full circle with images of his youth and reminiscences of the remarkable life which made him the prototype of the American Hero.

The Redskins, or, Indian and Injin. Being the Conclusion of the Littlepage Manuscripts

James Fenimore Cooper

The unfolding struggle for land in North America prompted Cooper to write a series of novels about the life and fate of large landowners. The main character, American Hedges Littlepage, and his elderly uncle have been living in Europe for a long time. But suddenly events begin in America that force them to go on a long journey, to their homeland.

The Sea Lions. The Lost Sealers

James Fenimore Cooper

This is a gripping maritime story about two whaling ships on a long and cold journey to the shores of Antarctica in search of dangerous goods. Two Sea Lions two ships, two captains, two crews! Will they become enemies or friends in the prickly ice that threatens to crush them all. And only the scarlet blood of whales, majestic animals, mixes with the white waves of the ocean in the silence of snowy cliffs.

The Spy. A Tale of the Neutral Ground

James Fenimore Cooper

Inspired by accusations of venality leveled at the men who captured Major Andre (Benedict Arnolds co-conspirator, executed for espionage in 1780), Coopers novel centers on Harry Birch, a common man wrongly suspected by well-born Patriots of being a spy for the British. Even George Washington, who supports Birch, misreads the man, and when Washington offers him payment for information vital to the Patriots cause, Birch scorns the money and asserts that his action were motivated not by financial reward, but by his devotion to the fight for independence. Peopled with memorable characters, some of them real life heroes like George Washington, The Spy by James Fenimore Cooper is a great blend of fact and historical fiction, constructed on a magnificent scale.

The Two Admirals

James Fenimore Cooper

The novel Two Admirals tells about the events from the history of the naval war between England and France in the middle of the 18th century. At the center of the novel is a touching story of long-term friendship between two admirals, Jevers Oakes and Dick Bluewater. Their relationship is intertwined with another storyline the struggle for the inheritance left by the old baronet.

The Wing-and-Wing. Or, Le Feu-Follet

James Fenimore Cooper

The young French robber Raoul Ivar appeared with his ship in a small harbor in the city of Porto Ferraio. He introduced himself as Jack Smith, but he was exposed: the English officer Griffin recognized the bold robber Raul Ivar in Smith. The British decide to capture his ship. A desperate adventurer is waiting for new challenges, but he is full of hope, courage and a thirst for freedom will help him in this struggle.

Wyandotté, or, the Hutted Knoll. A Tale

James Fenimore Cooper

The action of the novel refers us to the events that took place on the eve of the struggle for the independence of the North American colonies. The heroes of the novel will have to face the distrust of their compatriots, survive their betrayal, withstand the pressure of a gang of Indians, courageously overcome all hardships.