Inspired by accusations of venality leveled at the men who captured Major Andre (Benedict Arnold's co-conspirator, executed for espionage in 1780), Cooper's 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 Patriot's 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.A historical adventure tale reminiscent of Sir Walter Scott's Waverley novels, The Spy is also a parable of the American experience, a reminder that the nation's survival, like its Revolution, depends on judging people by their actions, not their class or reputations.

Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground

Literature & Fiction

COOPER, JAMES FENIMORE

Literary

Macmillan Pub. Co.

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is particularly remembered as a novelist, who wrote numerous sea-stories as well as the historical romances known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Among his most famous works is the Romantic novel The Last of the Mohicans, which many people consider his masterpiece. Other works include Precaution (1820), The Spy (1821), The Pioneers (1823), The Red Rover (1828), The Wept of Wish-ton-Wish (1829), The Notions of a Traveling Bachelor (1828), The Waterwitch (1830), The Bravo (1831), The Monikins (1835), The American Democrat (1835), Homeward Bound (1839), Home as Found (1838), A History of the Navy of the United States (1839), The Pathfinder (1840), Mercedes of Castile (1840), The Deerslayer (1841), Ned Myers (1843) and The Ways of the Hour (1850).

Pioneers

Harcourt School

The Last of the Mohicans (Bantam Classics)

United States

Bantam Classics

A Collection of Critical Essays By James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper, a collection of critical essays (Twentieth century views)

Fields, Wayne

History & Criticism

PRENTICE/HALL

The Last of the Mohicans, one of the world’s great adventure stories, dramatizes how the birth of American culture was intertwined with that of Native Americans. In 1757, as the English and the French war over American territory, the frontier scout Hawkeye—Natty Bumppo—risks his life to escort two sisters through hostile Huron country. Hawkeye enlists the aid of his Mohican friends Chingachgook and Uncas, and together they battle deception, brutality, and death in a thrilling story of loyalty, moral courage, and love. With an Introduction by Richard Hutsonand a New Afterword by Hugh C. MacDougall 

Last of the Mohicans

Pearson College Div

In this classic novel, James Fenimore Cooper portrays life in a new settlement on New York's Lake Otsego in the closing years of the eighteenth century. He describes the year's cycle: the turkey shoot at Christmas, the tapping of maple trees, fishing for bass in the evening, the marshalling of the militia. But Cooper is also concerned with exploring the development of the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of the American experience. He writes of the conflicts within the settlement itself, focusing primarily on the contrast between the natural codes of the hunter and woodsman Natty Bumppo and his Indian friend John Mohegan and the more rigid structure of law needed by a more complex society. Quite possibly America's first best-seller (more than three thousand copies were sold within hours of publication), The Pioneers today evokes a vibrant and authentic picture of the American pioneering experience. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Pioneers (Leatherstocking Tale)

Humor & Satire

Penguin Publishing Group

Cooper's most enduringly popular novel combines heroism and romance with powerful criticism of the destruction of nature and tradition. Set against the French and Indian siege of Fort William Henry in 1757, The Last of the Mohicans recounts the story of two sisters, Cora and Alice Munro, daughters of the English commander, who are struggling to be reunited with their father. They are aided in their perilous journey by Hawk-eye, a frontier scout and his companions Chingachgook and Uncas, the only two survivors of the Mohican tribe. But their lives are endangered by the Mangua, the savage Indian traitor who captures the sisters, wanting Cora to be his squaw. In setting Indian against Indian and the brutal society of the white man against the civilization of the Mohican, Cooper, more than any author before or since, shaped the American sense of itself as a nation. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Last of the Mohicans (Leatherstocking Tale)

Penguin Classics

The final novel in Cooper’s epic, The Prairie depicts Natty Bumppo at the end of his life, still displaying his indomitable strength and dignity. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Prairie (Leatherstocking Tale)

Arts & Photography

James Fenimore Cooper's spirited romance has been praised for its authenticity as a portrait of life during America's western movement. At Lake Otsego, during the French and Indian Wars, great frontiersman Natty Bumppo forsakes his love to come to the aid of Thomas Hutter, a trapper under the attack of Iroquois Indians. Published in 1841, The Deerslayer is the first of the Leatherstocking Tales, which reveal the courageous and perseverant nature of the pioneer. Recognized for his descriptive power, Cooper created in Natty Bumppo a mythical character - one of the most significant in the history of American literature. The text of this book was approved by the Center for Scholarly Editions of the Modern Language Association and published in hardcover by the State University of New York Press. For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.

The Deerslayer (Leatherstocking Tale)

An analysis of nineteenth century American politics argues that complacency, demagoguery, party propaganda, and the tyranny of public opinion endanger the country

The American Democrat: Revised Edition (Penguin Classics)

History

Americas

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