The Last of the Mohicans: Timeless Classics

Written by James Fenimore Cooper

Narrated by Saddleback Educational Publishing

Uncas and Chingachgook are the last survivors of the once mighty tribe of Mohicans. Their friend, a white scout named Hawkeye, needs their help in the British fight against the French. The odds they face are overwhelming. Magua, a cunning Huron, is determined to see them fail.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Saddleback Educational Publishing
• Release date: Jan 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781612475110

James Fenimore Cooper

James Fenimore Cooper was born in 1789 in New Jersey, but later moved to Cooperstown in New York, where he lived most of his life. His novel The Last of the Mohicans was one of the most widely read novels in the 19th century and is generally considered to be his masterpiece. His novels have been adapted for stage, radio, TV and film.

Reviews for The Last of the Mohicans

[Lama Casimir Dosso · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

livre super intéressant j'ai vraiment aimer le livre j'ai même suivis le dessin animé belle histoire aussi j'ai adoré le film "Lat of the Mohicans" avec Daniel Day Lewis. je trouve que la différent entre le livre audio et le dessin animée n'est pas assez grande mais j'ai vraiment adoré l'histoire.

[shanaqui_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

I hated the writing in this book. I slogged all the way through it, but I honestly don't recall much beyond tedium.

[janepriceestrada · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had a hard time getting into this book. It is a very interesting plot but the manner in which it is written made it pretty tedious for me. I also felt like things dragged on a bit much.

[drfuriosa · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

There were intriguing moments followed by overlong descriptions. Not my jam, overall.

[kabarnes-945075 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

An exciting story but so ponderously told. And if he mentioned either of the Munro women's "weakness of their sex" one more time, I was going to scream. The antiquated language made this a difficult and not entirely enjoyable read.

[amerynth · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I am totally in agreement with Mark Twain about James Fenimore Cooper's literary "offenses" ... why describe a man as tall and thin when you can spend pages describing every feature from their eyebrows to their toes. Nary a drop of water nor a tree gets by without a vivid, unneeded description. This book has a lot of action (though some problematic as a product of the time it was written in...) but it was hard to get past Cooper's writing style to really get into the story. This is one case where I could see how a movie version would be an improvement over the book.

[caslater83 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

This is another classic that I will never read again. In fact, after the first 10-12%, I gave up on this book.

No offense to JFC fans, but he just doesn't cut it for me. I usually like authors to be descriptive in their writings, but I think Mr. Cooper got too carried away with it.

The next time I pick up a classic novel, I want to fall in love with it, not throw it in the fire.

[nog_5 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I picked this up at the local library for $1, so I thought, what the heck. I typically don't choose to read early American literature, so this was about seeing how well someone who predated Hawthorne, Poe, and Melville did. Not terribly well, actually. I had some inkling ahead of time that this was going to be about as realistic as Walter Scott (I made it a little ways into Ivanhoe as a child and tossed it aside). It's actually not that bad for about the first half or so, despite some pretty unlikely events and behavior on both the part of the whites and the Indians But then, about 2/3 of the way through, it starts to be pretty preposterous. It's not without its merits, I guess, but ultimately at this stage of American letters, we don't have a lot to be proud of. Fortunately, that was about to change (Emerson, Whitman, etc.)

[justagirlwithabook · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I can't remember when I read this but it is a borderline "western" that I actually didn't hate, which is seriously saying something. This one provides an interesting perspective and I thought it was alright. I didn't love it and I wouldn't recommend it to just anyone, but it wasn't bad either.

[ramrak_1 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Very antiquated language. Too hard to read.

[electrascaife · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

No, I didn't care for this one much, I'm afraid. A main character who is white but lives among the Indians and so embodies the best of both worlds (the forest prowess of the natives but the moral and intellectual superiority of the white man), natives who are inherently lesser, but with two 'noble' exceptions, white soldiers who are brave but dumb and weak compared to that amazing main character, and two damosels in constant need of rescuing - blech. I will say that the ending was unexpectedly un-pat, which was a bit of a nice surprise, but not enough to save this one.

[jhemlock-1711 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A wonderful story. So much better than it's siblings.

[garrison0550 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

Probably better to stick with the movie version on this one.

[leandrod-2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Boriŋ. But ðen I was a kid.

[claytondonhauser · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Last of the Mohicans is a story about two sisters escorted from fort Henry to their fathers house for a visit. Guided through the forest by a major. The major named Duncan Heyward. Also he was guided by a Mohican. They stumble upon an Indian that leads them on the wrong direction. Once they find out he runs away bringing back more allies. but saved by a adopted settler by one of the last Mohicans.This book is an intresting read, Yet it is not related to your work or your selected genre expressed to me from you, Mr. Poppe, For that reason this read would not be good for you currently. So i would not recommended this as of right now. If you are interested in fictional history when you are retired, maybe you could kick back to this book in your senior years.

[aliceanna-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Overall a good story, but told in a very awkward style. I kept drifting off, my mind wandering as I read it. It just simply couldn't keep my attention even though the story itself and most of the characters were very good.

[misses_london · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Difficult to adjust to the writing style? No doubt. Patience required even then? Yes. Nevertheless an artfully and skillfully accomplished novel? Absolutely. This book is so descriptive and tedious in its setting because the merciless and rugged wilderness of N. American before colonisation and Europeans ultimately conquered it was in and of itself one of the primary characters in the novel, just as important as that of the Mohicans, their Indian foes, and the white settlers. While it's a work of fiction, in order to fully understand the tale, it forced me to educate myself on the history of the French-Indian War, most of which it appears I'd forgotten. I'd recommend this book to those interested in the history of colonisation of N. American and certainly anyone interested in Native American culture and the clash between it and the white settlers. A beautiful piece of work.

[bcrowl399 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a difficult book to read. I only read it because I loved the moive "Lat of the Mohicans" with Daniel Day Lewis. The really interesting part is that some threads of the original are present in the movie. Some of the best lines in the movies are actually taken from the book. 

[jmoncton_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

OK, let's start with what I enjoyed about this classic - great story and wonderful characters. In this book you really get a good mental picture of Hawkeye, the scout, and Uncas, the last purebred Mohican chief. You fall in love with Cora's heroism and you detest Magua as a treacherous villain. Now, what did I not like - the writing style! This book was so wordy and hard to slug through. Although I enjoyed all the conversations between the characters the descriptions were so tedious and peppered with footnotes. Toward the end of the book, I found myself fast forwarding through the footnotes - some of them were several tracks long! I can see why people love this book - what a great story! But does anyone like his writing style? Last of the Mohicans is the Last of Cooper's books for me!

[henryg_27763 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Having to read this in high school is one of the things that made me think I hated to read. I'm sure there are those for whom this is their cup of tea, but it should never be inflicted on high school students! It seemed like it was about a guy who walked around in the woods for hundreds of pages. Granted, my experience with it might be different as an adult, but I don't see myself trying again with this one.

[sweetbriarpoet · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I think people get mad at this book because it is written in the romantic style. Of course there is lofty language, of course it is strewn with figurative language and idealistic undertones. In fact, that is what made the novel revolutionary (not to mention an unseen-before anthropologist's cultural relativity..sort of.) If you don't like sentimentalism...then don't read fiction from the romantic period in America. And by romantic I don't mean love, I mean a deference to natural surroundings and a higher appreciation for artistry and sentimentalism. The characters are well developed, believable in that larger-than-life way. There is a proper hero, a fallen woman, an epic grace to the way the story flows. War and adventure is at the forefront, and a there is a hint of travel, journey, experience. To anyone who understands why historic literature is the way it is, I recommend this four star book.

[lindseyrivers · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Who knew a book so full of action could be so boring? I didn't even cry at the end,,,

[choochtriplem · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I was a history major in college and even studied much about the French and Indian War. The movie of the same title is great, so I thought the book would be worth a read. I was very, very wrong. The book is a long and rather awful read. I hate to say such bad things about a famous American novel and writer, but the story just did not make much sense sometimes and the narrative was long and very hard to read. If you like the movie, the story is completely different. It may be worth a read if you have the time.

[snat_3 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

If time travel were possible, I'd go back in time and assassinate James Fenimore Cooper before he ever put pen to paper (in this imaginary scenario, let it be known that I also possess mad ninja skills). Why do I hate Cooper so much? Let me count the ways:1) His never-ending description of every rock, twig, river, etc., that the main characters come into contact with. No pebble escapes his scrutiny. This book would have been 3 pages long without the description. And even then, it would have been 3 pages too long.2) Native American dialogue is limited to the occasional exclamation of "Hugh." Not Hugh as in Hefner, but something more like "huh." They're a quiet people, apparently. I'm shocked they don't greet each other by saying, "How."2 1/2) While we're on the subject, they're all stereotypes of either the noble savage variety or the "me big chief Ugh-a-Mug gotta have 'em squaw" variety. The whole thing is a racist piece of crap. And don't tell me that Cooper was reflecting the beliefs of the time because, while that may explain the racism, it doesn't explain away the crap bit.3) Practically every speech by Hawk-eye will contain some bit of dialogue such as, "Even though white blood runs through my veins." Lest we forget he's white since he's been hobnobbing with the natives for so long.4) Those damn women just keep getting kidnapped.5) For an action story, it's mind-numbingly boring. To illustrate, I give you a riveting, action packed scene in which Duncan, the British officer, tries to distract le Renard Subtil (also known as Magua, also known as Wes Studi in the film) with a discussion of French etymology. Dash cunning of him, don't you think? It sure would have sucked if he had just attacked him with a knife, a gun, or even a rapier wit. Apparently Duncan's plan was to wear down his enemy with sheer boredom:'Here is some confusion in names between us, le Renard,' said Duncan, hoping to provoke a discussion. 'Daim is the French for deer, and cerf for stag; elan is the true term, when one would speak of an elk.'6) Everyone is known by about three or four different names, because anything less would have been confusing. Right, Coop?7) Did I mention that it's just frickin' boring? I would rather slam my head in a car door than ever read this book again.The best part about the book was that there were entire sections in French. For once, lack of knowledge about a foreign language has paid off! I was practically giddy with excitement when I encountered entire pages of French dialogue as it meant, mon Dieu!, I got to skip the entire page.

[janemarieprice · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I had a hard time getting into this book. It is a very interesting plot but the manner in which it is written made it pretty tedious for me. I also felt like things dragged on a bit much.

[aiufjcf · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This would've been a lot better book had they not interupted the action parts with long dialouge. Still, pretty good.

[jpsnow · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Such a timely work, I enjoyed twice as much -- it stands on it's own as a classic, and moreso to me as historic fiction. An enjoyable read. I read it in between two books about writing and it served as a good case study of character, plot, etc. Just after finishing it, I read Rita Mae Brown's "Starting from Scratch," in which she references it with regard to Cooper's showing such depth in the relationship between men (the Scout and the Sagamore and Uncas), while leaving the women (Cora and Alice) completely two-dimensional. In fairness to Cooper, the story was more about the men and their role, but a look at the women's (as well as the indian women's) personality could have added some interesting perspective. Finally, I enjoyed it in accompaniment to the genealogical research of my family in that area at that time. Great interaction between the three principal men. It's an adventure story, but Cooper makes you feel the Scout's heartfelt philosophy and Chingachgook's people.

[hvhay_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I really did not enjoy this at all. The characters were one dimensional and the plot was boring as well as unbelievable. I understand that Cooper had a pretty high opinion of his writing but I don't think the books have stood the test of time.

[wyvernfriend · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It really isn't quite my kind of the thing but it is an interesting read. It's littered with things that show a lot about the world it was written in and the life on the frontier. The women seem to be there to be rescued and honestly I preferred the film rather than the story. If I had read it when I was in my teens I might regard it in the same way as Kim and revisit occasionally but while it's something I don't regret reading, it's not one I will be hunting up to add to the collection.It's very wordy, very detailed and a story that is more about the frontier than the people. I can see how it influenced many writers but I can also see how it is disliked by many people today.

[mrslee_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

My favorite of the series, when I read this it moved me greatly.One has to be in the proper mood to enjoy these books. A bit of romance, a bit of adventure, quite a bit of moralizing. I enjoyed them when I read them, but have no desire to read them again. I've since read enough history to realize just how fictional these are. If you read them for the adventure and the descriptions of the Northeastern woodlands, I don't think you will be disappointed. Sadly, the plot of each has sort of blended together and I can't remember the details of any.