The Pioneers (Leatherstocking Tale) - Softcover

Cooper, James Fenimore

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0140390073 ISBN 13: 9780140390070

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 1988

Synopsis

Originally published in 1823, The Pioneers is the first of Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales, and the one that incorporates most fully his own experience of growing up in a town of the American frontier. The heart of the novel is a conflict over who owns America, and by what concept of right. The competing claims of Native Americans, Tory loyalists, roving hunters, and visionary cultivators are pitted against one another in the area of history, and the magical village ofCooper's youth becomes the scene in which a nation's destiny is forged. The novel also marks the invention of his enduring contribution to world literature: Natty Bumpo, the Leatherstocking.

About this title

Review:

"Another fine book in this excellent series. These books are attractive, durable, reasonably priced, and impeccably edited."--Richard A. Hook, Denison University"A well-produced edition."--Jeff Cupp, Troy State University"A very handsome edition."--E. N. Feltskog, University of Wisconsin"It's great to have available these well-designed and edited editions of past literature in a comparatively inexpensive paperback."--Arlie E. Herron, University of Tenn.-Chattanooga

About the Author:

James Fenimore Cooper (1789-1851) grew up at Otsego Hall, his father's manorial estate near Lake Otsego in upstate New York. Educated at Yale, he spent five years at sea, as a foremast hand and then as a midshipman in the navy. At thirty he was suddenly plunged into a literary career when his wife challenged his claim that he could write a better book that the English novel he was reading to her. The result was Precaution (1820), a novel of manners. His second book, The Spy (1821), was an immediate success, and with The Pioneers (1823) he began his series of Leatherstocking Tales. By 1826 when The Last of the Mohicans appeared, his standing as a major novelist was clearly established. From 1826 to 1833 Cooper and his family lived and traveled in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany. Two of his most successful works, The Prairie and The Red Rover, were published in 1827. He returned to Otsego Hall in 1834, and after a series of relatively unsuccessful books of essays, travel sketches, and history, he returned to fiction - and to Leatherstocking - with The Pathfinder (1840) and The Deerslayer (1841). In his last decade he faced declining popularity brought on in part by his waspish attacks on critics and political opponents. Just before his death in 1851 an edition of his works led to a reappraisal of his fiction and somewhat restored his reputation as the first of American writers.

About this edition

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0140390073
• ISBN 13: 9780140390070
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 460