James Fenimore Cooper

First major American novelist, whose best-known tales of frontier adventure include THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS (1826), an adventure story set in the Lake Champlain. It has been filmed several times, among others in 1936 and 1992. Through his Leatherstocking series Cooper created the archetype of the 18th-century frontiersman, Natty Bumppo. He lives free, close to nature, while the settlers bring 'civilization' that destroys the wilderness. Cooper wrote over thirty novels - he considered THE PATHFINDER (1841) and THE …

…by the Sioux. In the end of the tale Bumppo peacefully dies on the prairie, surrounded by his friends."A valiant, a just, and a wise warrior, has gone on the path which will lead him to the blessed grounds of his people!" he said. "When the voice of the Wahcondah called him, he was ready to answer. Go, my children; remember the just chief of the Palefaces, and clear your own tracks from briers!"