title: The Last of the Mohicans (Annotated): A Narrative of 1757 (Leatherstocking Tales) (Volume 2)
author: James Fenimore Cooper
description: James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789  September 14, 1851) was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. He lived most of his life in Cooperstown, New York, which was founded by his father William on property he owned. Cooper was a lifelong member of the Episcopal Church and in his later years contributed generously to it. He attended Yale University for three years, where he was a member of the Linonian Society, but was expelled for misbehavior. Before embarking on his career as a writer he served in the U.S. Navy as a Midshipman, which greatly influenced many of his novels and other writings. The novel that launched his career was The Spy, a tale about counterespionage set during the Revolutionary War and published in 1821. He also wrote numerous sea stories and his best known works are five historical novels of the frontier period known as the Leatherstocking Tales. Among naval historians Cooper's works on the early U.S. Navy have been well received, but they were sometimes criticized by his contemporaries. Among his most famous works is the Romantic novel The Last of the Mohicans, often regarded as his masterpiece.
zlib_text: ****The Project Gutenberg Etext of The Last of the Mohicans****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Last of the Mohicans
  
  
  A Narrative of 1757
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  by James Fenimore Cooper
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  ****
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  **
  
  
  INTRODUCTION
  
  
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  It is believed that the scene of this tale, and most of the
  
  
  information necessary to understand its allusions, are
  
  
  rendered sufficiently obvious to the reader in the text
  
  
  itself, or in the accompanying notes. Still there is so
  
  
  much obscurity in the Indian traditions, and so much
  
  
  confusion in the Indian names, as to render some explanation
  
  
  useful.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Few men exhibit greater diversity, or, if we may so express
  
  
  it, greater antithesis of character, than the native warrior
  
  
  of North America. In war, he is daring, boastful, cunning,
  
  
  ruthless, self-denying, and self-devoted; in peace, just,
  
  
  generous, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, modest, and
  
  
  commonly chaste. These are qualities, it is true, which do
  
  
  not distinguish a