Audiobook · read by volunteers
Last of the Mohicans - A Narrative of 1757 (version 2)
James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851)
Read by Robin Cotter, Esther, Julie Bynum, Janice, Thomas Wells, Ana Simão, Daryl_S, Graeme Jolliffe, hefyd, Eric Wisdahl · 34 chapters · 15 h 24
About the book
It is the summer of 1757, in the British province of New York, during the war between France and Britain for North America. Two sisters, Cora and Alice Munro, set out through the forest to join their father at Fort William Henry. Their guides are a Huron scout who knows the woods too well and a frontier hunter called Hawkeye, with his Mohican friends Chingachgook and Uncas. Danger waits behind every tree.
James Fenimore Cooper’s novel has been a defining story of the American frontier for two centuries: a tale of pursuit, captivity and flight, set against a real historical massacre. It is also a story of friendship across cultures and of a way of life that was disappearing. In thirty-four chapters and over fifteen hours, this second LibriVox version offers a thrilling journey into the forest.
Introduction
James Fenimore Cooper (1789–1851) was an American novelist, best known for the Leatherstocking Tales, a series of five books following the frontiersman Natty Bumppo. The Last of the Mohicans, subtitled A Narrative of 1757, was published in 1826 and is the second in the order in which the tales were written, though it comes earlier in the life of the hero. Cooper was among the first American writers to win a large international readership.
The story is set in the British province of New York during the French and Indian War, and it begins with the retreat of the British garrison from Fort William Henry, a column that is attacked after it has surrendered. The kidnapping of two sisters, and their rescue by a frontier scout and his companions, form the main thread of the plot. Cooper draws on real events, but he mixes history with invention, and the book has long been discussed for its romantic picture of Native Americans, which reflects the ideas and prejudices of its time. Critics from Mark Twain onward have mocked its style, while others have defended its power as an adventure story.
The recording, described as version 2, has 34 sections and lasts about fifteen and a half hours. It is read by volunteers for LibriVox.
Why listen today? Because the book is a landmark in American literature and a source for much of what later Westerns and adventure films took from the frontier tradition. It is also an invitation to think about how history becomes a story, and what is gained and lost on the way.
Public domain
James Fenimore Cooper died in 1851: the work is in the public domain in Switzerland, more than 70 years after the author’s death.
The LibriVox volunteers dedicated this recording to the public domain.
Sources : LibriVox page · Files at the Internet Archive · Original text