I'm interested in what members may think about ....

[dfloyd]

James Fenimore Cooper. I know he's not extremely popular anymore, but I find his novels about early America interesting. While he's somewhat dated, he does give a description of what pioneer life was like from the French and Indian War up through the LA purchase. I have read The Spy and The Pilot as well as four of the five Leatherstocking Tales. No need to mention Mark Twain's diatribe about him. I am familiar with it.

[Modest Proposal]

I consider him actually highly UNDERrater along with Longfellow. I think part of this underrating is due to his very sparse delving into his female characters and his romanticized view of natives in a day and age where these two aspects are of supreme importance to acadamia.
As far as his story-telling prowess goes, I rate him with Dickens as a master novelest, a good writer and a semi-independant thinker. I know Twain was down on him, but you should check out--something I'm always recommending here--"Studies in Classic American Literature" by D. H. Lawrence which, if I remember correctly, has a great section on Cooper.

Have you by chance heard the story of how he started writing?

[The Comedian]

I consider him actually highly UNDERrater along with Longfellow.

Well said -- agree with your assessment of both authors (particularly Longfellow).

But to the OP, I loved The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer by Cooper. And, to a great extent, I think that his value is greatly under appreciated by academics, which is why his section in the 'ol Norton et al is shrinking.

But really, it was Cooper who created a romantic archetype of (especially American) literature: the independent loner with Native affiliations who makes his way through brush and wilderness with noble soul.

[dfloyd]

I have been to Cooperstown where Fenimore's manse is. The lake there -upstate New York - Lake Ostego, or something similar, is the model for Lake Glimmerglass in The Deerslayer. I went Cooperstown as a child before I had read Cooper. I went there with my family - at my insistence - because that is where the Baseball Hall of Fame is.

I have seen three movies of The Last of the Mohicans: 1) Randolph Scott as Natty Bumpo, 2) Daniel Day Lewis as Natty, and 3) The version made by the Brits for Masterpiece Theatre. The latter was the best and folowed the book closely. In the first movie, Magua, the bad indian, was played by Bruce Cabot - talk about miscasting!

I'm glad that some like Cooper since he is not read much anymore. On a previous post, I read where someone hated The Spy, a book I rather enjoyed. I'm reading The Prarie now, with only one more Natty Bumpo story to go: The Pioneer.