Five Novels: Complete and Unabridged

Synopsis The novels of James Fenimore Cooper are steeped in the history and lore of an America that had only recently established its independence and was still in the process of taming its vast wilderness. As the nation's first commercially successful professional novelist, Cooper was instrumental in helping to shape America's early cultural identity and giving voice to his country's unique political and social concerns. The five novels collected in this volume - The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie, The Pathfinder, and The Deerslayer - comprise Cooper's Leather-Stocking Tales, and feature the adventures of woodsman Natty Bumppo, a figure of independence and self-reliance who is recognized today as an American folk icon. Written over a twenty-year span and encompassing sixty years of American history, Cooper's tales are monuments of literature that capture the spirit of the fledgling nation and bring the drama of its settling colorfully to life. James Fenimore Cooper: F