The Deerslayer. James Fenimore Cooper

First published in 1841, “The Deerslayer” was the last of James Fenimore Cooper’s “Leatherstocking Tales” to be written. Chronologically set first the novel introduces the reader to the hero of the series, the young frontiersmen Natty Bumppo. In this prequel to the later “Leatherstocking Tales,” Natty, the “Deerslayer”, is at Otsego Lake in central, upstate New York, during the years 1740-1745, a time in which the French and Indian Wars were beginning and the advance of civilization began to dominate the landscape of New York State. The story revolves around the conflict that arises between Natty and the Huron tribe when he and his friend Chingachgook attempt to rescue Henry March and Tom Hutter, who have been taken as prisoners by the Huron for attacking and scalping members of the tribe. Absorbing and realistically detailed, “The Deerslayer” is both a romantic adventure and a fascinating glimpse of the colonies in the decades before the American Revolution. The savage violence of the time is contrasted in moving prose with the breathtaking landscape of the New World. This thrilling tale of early American frontier life and adventure completes James Fenimore Cooper’s saga of the “Leatherstocking Tales”. This edition includes a biographical afterword.