The Last of the Mohicans

Review “I think these World’s Classics editions are really fine. The notes are meaningful and very useful to students, yet the way they are indicated in the text is not intrusive. Great job!.”–Grace Epstein, Stephens College”[An] excellent inexpensive paperback edition. Much better quality than equivilant volumes. The explanatory notes are a valuable addition.”–Jeff Cupp, Troy State University”‘Historical Contexts’ concise yet thorough. Apparatus generally very satisfying in its relevance and thoroughness.”–Fred R. McFadden, Coppin State College”At last, a paperback book under $4.00! this edition is indeed a “World Classic.”–Paul Putt, Lee College”Introductory material and historical notes are helpful.”–Dr. Judy L. Martin, Missouri Western State College Product Description One of the most popular novels of early American literature, “The Last of the Mohicans” helped to establish James Fenimore Cooper as one of the first great and world-famous American authors. The second novel in the “Natty” Bumpo series, “The Last of the Mohicans” is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War. It concerns the rescue of two sisters, daughters of a British commander who are kidnapped following a Huron massacre of Anglo-American soldiers, by the two remaining survivors of the Mohican tribe. A fantastic tale of adventure, “The Last of the Mohicans” is a true American classic. About the Author James Fenimore Cooper (September 15, 1789 – September 15, 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 that 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. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CHAPTER I Mine ear is open, and my heart prepared:The worst is worldly loss thou canst unfold:–Say, is my kingdom lost?Shakespeare  It was a feature peculiar to the colonial wars of North America, that the toils and dangers of the wilderness were to be encountered before the adverse hosts could meet. A wide and apparently an impervious boundary of forests severed the possessions of the hostile provinces of France and England. The hardy colonist, and the trained European who fought at his side, frequently expended months in struggling against the rapids of the streams, or in effecting the rugged passes of the mountains, in quest of an opportunity to exhibit their courage in a more martial conflict. But, emulating the patience and self-denial of the practiced native warriors, they learned to overcome every difficulty; and it would seem that, in time, there was no recess of the woods so dark, nor any secret place so lovely, that it might claim exemption from the inroads of those who had pledged their blood to satiate their vengeance, or to uphold the cold and selfish policy of the distant monarchs of Europe.Perhaps no district throughout the wide extent of the intermediate frontiers can furnish a livelier picture of the cruelty and fierceness of the savage warfare of those periods than the country which lies between the headwaters of the Hudson and the adjacent lakes.The facilities which nature had there offered to the march of the combatants were too obvious to be neglected. The lengthened sheet of the Champlain stretched from the frontiers of Canada, deep within the borders of the neighboring province of New York, forming a natural passage across half the distance that the French were compelled to master in order to strike their enemies. Near its southern termination, it received the contributions of another lake, whose waters were s