The Leatherstocking Tales Series

Originally published in 1823, "The Pioneers" (in full "The Pioneers; or, The Sources of the Susquehanna") is the first of five novels, but the fourth chronological story, in the series The Leatherstocking Tales by American writer James Fenimore Cooper. "The Pioneers" began the saga of frontiersman Natty Bumppo, also called Leather-Stocking, and tells the interlocking story of three characters in the fictional frontier town of Templeton, New York (based on the real Cooperstown, New York) between Christmas Eve 1793 and October 1794. The protagonist is Nathaniel “Natty” Bumpo (or Leatherstocking), an elderly but extremely skilled woodsman who resents the encroachment of civilization on his home in nature. Judge Marmaduke Temple is the wealthy landowner, founder of Templeton, and its de facto leader, who attempts to grow civilization while respecting the environment. Oliver Edwards, who lives with Leatherstocking, is a brooding young man with a mysterious past and a grudge against Judge Temple. Much of the plot is devoted to the conflict between Leatherstocking and Templeton over law, as well as unravelling Oliver’s mysterious past. In this narrative Bumppo is an old man, as is his Indian friend Chingachgook; together they have seen the frontier change from wilderness to settlement, and they know that their way of life is about to vanish.

Written at speed after "The Last of the Mohicans" established Cooper’s reputation, and published just a year later in 1827, "The Prairie", the third published novel of the Leatherstocking Tales but the last in Deerslayer’s chronology, depicts Leatherstocking, now known as the trapper or the old man, in his final days.  The setting is the edge of the Great Plains, the time is 1805, and the hero is in his eighties—his maturation and movement have paralleled that of the United States. Although Cooper himself never travelled to this locale, he researched his subject well. Unfortunately, with the familiar good against bad Indians dichotomy (this time the Pawnee and Sioux, respectively), wise sayings that sound more like platitudes, and the stock romance pursuit, capture, and escape plot, Natty Bumppo’s exit is not as memorable as his entrance. "The Prairie" extols the vanishing American wilderness, disappearing because of the westward expansion of the American frontier. It concerns Natty Bumppo’s travels with a party of settlers across the unsettled prairie of the Great Plains. Bumppo ultimately rejects life with the settlers and goes to live out his days in a Pawnee village, away from the encroaching civilization he distrusts.

Originally published in 1840, "The Pathfinder" (in full "The Pathfinder; or, The Inland Sea") is a picturesque novel by American writer James Fenimore Cooper.  "The Pathfinder" is the fourth of five novels published as The Leatherstocking Tales, but in terms of the chronological narrative, it is third in the series. "The Pathfinder" is a naval story set on the Great Lakes of the 1750s. Fashioned from Cooper's own experience as a midshipman on Lake Ontario, the novel revives Natty Bumpo (who had died in "The Prairie"), and illuminates Cooper's interest in American history with his concern for social development. Natty Bumppo is a 40-year-old wilderness scout living near Lake Ontario during the French and Indian War who comes to the aid of a British colonial garrison under attack. He dearly loves Mabel Dunham, daughter of a sergeant. Mabel refuses his offer of marriage because she loves his friend, Jasper Western (under suspicion of being a traitor), in large part because of his fluency in French.

First published in 1841, "The Deerslayer" (AKA "The Deerslayer: The First War Path"), a novel by American writer James Fenimore Cooper, is the first instalment in his famous Leatherstocking Tales chronologically, though the last to be written. The series follows the adventures of Natty Bumppo, an American frontiersman partly raised by Mohican natives, as he navigates the tensions between the natives and the European settlers against the backdrop of the American wilderness. In terms of the story’s continuity, "The Deerslayer" is followed by what is probably the most famous of the Leatherstocking Tales books, "The Last of the Mohicans". While the latter tells the story of Natty — by then known as Hawkeye — in 1757, during the French and Indian War, "The Deerslayer" takes place around 1740, introducing a Natty who has not yet had to kill or fight for his life — thus the subtitle, The First War Path. A restless white youth raised by Indians, Natty Bumppo is called Deerslayer for the daring that sets him apart from his peers. But he has yet to meet the test of human conflict. In a tale of violent action and superbly sustained suspense, the harsh realities of tribal warfare force him to kill his first foe, then face torture at the stake. Still yet another kind of initiation awaits him when he discovers not only the ruthlessness of "civilized" men, but also the special danger of a woman's will. His reckless spirit transformed into mature courage and moral certainty, the Deerslayer emerges to face life with nobility as pure and proud as the wilderness whose fierce beauty and freedom have claimed his heart.