The Pioneers

by James Fenimore Cooper, Max Cavitch (Introduction)

Overview

MEET NATTY BUMPPO

The first volume in the famous Leatherstocking Tales, The Pioneers introduces Natty Bumppo, the quintessential American hunter and frontiersman who struggles to defend his cherished freedom.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101143803
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	03/06/2007
Series:	The Leatherstocking Tales
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	480
File size:	539 KB
Age Range:	18 Years

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.

Date of Birth:

September 15, 1789

Date of Death:

September 14, 1851

Place of Birth:

Burlington, New Jersey

Place of Death:

Cooperstown, New York

Education:

Yale University (expelled in 1805)

Table of Contents

	A Note on the Text	vi
	Introduction	vii
	Suggestions for Further Reading	xxiii
	Preface to the First Edition (1823)	3
	Introduction to the 1832 Edition	6
	Introduction to the Putnam Edition (1851)	11
	The Pioneers	15
	Notes	457

Editorial Reviews

"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

From the Publisher