Customer Reviews

James Fenimore Cooper: The Leatherstocking Tales I; The Pioneers, The Last of the Mohicans, The Prairie (Library of America)

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Cooper's works are wonderful blends of action and character development, evoking every emotion from the reader. "Last of the Mohicans" may be his best known novel in the Leatherstocking series (story line order: Deerslayer, Last of Mohicans, Pathfinder, Pioneer, and Prairie), but all five are really great frontier adventures for the outdoor woods lovers.

Cooper was superb at crafting an interesting tale with many twists, turns, interesting characters and action that would make a film director envious. This volume contains the famous Last of the Mohicans along with The Pioneers and The Prairie. The books are published in order of Cooper's writing, and not in chronological order of the fictional events told within. The Last of the Mohicans (sold as a separate novel also) is worthy of 5 stars just by itself. It's one of the all time classic American stories, with very few peers. Cooper's love of nature comes through in all five stories that make up the Leatherstocking Tales (two stories are contained in The Leatherstocking Tales Vol. 2). Last of the Mohicans is the strongest work of the three books in volume 1, but the others are also entertaining. The Pioneers takes a while to set up the story which has gained Cooper some criticism, but once it gets going, I found it difficult to put it down. The Prairie gets off to a slightly quicker start. For more great works by Cooper, do yourself a favor and please read Leatherstocking Tales Vol 2. This contains The Pathfinder and The Deerslayer. Hawkeye is at his best here, and so is Cooper. Both tales are just about as good as Last of the Mohicans even though they get less critical recognition. If you enjoy a well-told, exciting story, you'll enjoy Cooper.

I strongly believe that James Fenimore Cooper belongs to the American and the world history. I learned the history reading his books. I have all of them and I still open them once in a while even now, forty years later.

Excellent, high-quality binding, paper and typeface make this volume a joy to handle and read. The classic Leatherstocking Tales have never looked better. The time line and notes help place the readings in historical perspective. In re-reading the widely-known "Last of the Mohicans" as an adult, I am surprised at the level of violence and racism expressed. Cooper's introduction warns women and clergy from reading it - an early 19'th century view, but also modern in that one must have a sense of the historical period of the story, and of the author's times, to appreciate what has changed, and what unfortunately remains unchanged in our society and in human nature.

I give this 3 stars, because LotM is included here, but the other 2 novels are slow, tedious and well, I've never finished them. Volume 2 of these nice volumes includes The Deerslayer and the Pathfinder, two exciting novels that I recommend, perhaps even before LotM. My favorite is the Pathfinder. Natty Bumpo is awesome in that adventure!

In The Pioneers (1823) James Fenimore Cooper, who created the forerunner of backwoods heroes, depicts the clash between individualistic and communal impulses of people in the early development of a frontier settlement in upstate New York. The founder of the settlement, Judge Temple, is the personification of a bourgeois planned and stable society. He believes that laws imposed on individuals separate people from savages and are prerequisites for a civilized society. By trying to educate his settlers in practical approaches to farming and building and conservation of natural resources for practical use, he wishes to establish social and economic relations which are essential for a firmly structured society. Richard Jones, business assistant to Judge Temple and, later, the Sheriff of the county, is an egotistical jack-of-all-trades and represents a spirit of restless competition by which one pursues riches in order to climb the ladder of success. In contrast, the old hunter, Natty Bumppo, the solitary individual who lives in harmony with nature, is a frontier individualist who has a vision of a frontier society coexisting with nature. He craves traditional attitudes while fearing and despising civilization and its wasteful ways. His individualism is considered as a threat to Templeton and his natural laws eventually bring him into conflict with the "civilized" Judge and the people who are destroying the wilderness, a conflict that ultimately makes him escape the encroaching civilization and the lawless settlers.

Take an adventure through the life of America's first Action Hero!

Hawkeye, Natty, Nathaniel Bumppo, La Longue Carbine and Leather-stocking are a few of the many names for our protagonist. Respected, feared and known by all throughout the lands. His expert marksmanship, his level head and his Native customs make him a legend. You have to like a guy that names his rifle "Killdeer"!

The endless descriptive writing let's you mentally see a panoramic picture of the early frontier. Long before industry or the exodus out West forever changed the United States.

A wonderful addition to your mental and physical library.

Cooper's Library of America's part one is phenomenal..... A great example of the extraordinary Americans who have contributed to literature in a massive way.