The Prairie Author:James Fenimore Cooper The Prairie marks the closing chapter in JFC's great American saga of the frontiersman Natty Bumppo. In flight from the ever-encroaching forces of civilization, the aging hero of the Leatherstocking Tales has journeyed westward seeking to end his days in the still-virgin wilderness of the Great Plains. But once more he is drawn into an involve... more »ment with society in the form of an emigrant party led by the embittered outcast Ishmael Bush. Once again . . .« less
Typical Fenimore Cooper read -- a manners novel, but one of the first depictions of the American West, and the germ of an entire genre. If you are reading outside a class, check the scholarship online, it will help immensely.