The Pioneers
by James Fenimore Cooper
Foreword by Nathaniel Waring Barnes
The Pioneers, published in 1823, was the first of James Fenimore Cooper’s five novels comprising the “Leatherstocking Tales” saga, although the time period in which the story is set makes it the fourth chronologically. The original edition was published as “The Pioneers, Or, The Sources of the Susquehanna, A Descriptive Tale.”
Set in 1793, the tale opens with a dispute between an elderly Natty Bumppo, called Leatherstocking in this story, and Judge Marmaduke Temple of Templeton over who killed a buck. Perhaps ahead of his time, Cooper explores the complex themes of land use and stewardship along the rapidly receding frontier in the vicinity of Lake Otsego, New York, and the relationship between the residents of the growing town and the earlier inhabitants of the frontier. Continue reading “The Pioneers”