The Prairie

James Fenimore Cooper set his plot for The Prairie, as one might surmise, in the ocean of flat grassland west of white settlements. A lone forest-dweller, his protagonist cannot stand the sound of tree-chopping, but his eyes no longer serve him well, so he must end his days as a hunter. The Deerslayer, Hawkeye, the Pathfinder—these stages of Natty Bumppo’s life in previous Cooper works—morph him into the “trapper” in this flatland plot. The author handles his character’s gray-haired last-days stage masterfully. (Yes, I cried at the end.) True to the genre, the author includes warfare, a sprinkling of romance, and respectful comparison/contrast of Indian and white philosophy and religion. Throw in a fast-paced storyline and poetic storytelling, and it’s no wonder people consider this work a classic. An underrated one in my book.