In the excerpt below, from the text of a lecture delivered in 1852 at a Public Memorial Meeting in honor of Cooper, Bryant surveys Cooper's career and assesses its significance.

In the following essay, Adams contends that Cooper was ambivalent toward the law in America because he "was impelled to believe—emotionally and intellectually—in the law's ability to achieve both social and individual integrity by the same set of historical and psychological conditions that encouraged him to reject the law as divisive. "

In the following excerpt, Lounsbury assesses the positive and negative characteristics of Cooper's writing.

In the following essay, McWilliams contends that Cooper failed to employ the epic and romantic imagery that his contemporaries used to describe American Indians.

In the following essay, Brooks discusses the influence of the sea on Cooper's early fiction.

In the following essay, originally composed in 1895, Twain criticizes Cooper for his inflexible style and verbosity.

In the following excerpt, Kirk discusses Cooper's political views, especially how his aristocratic sympathies shaped his views on democracy.

In the following essay, Grossman discusses Cooper's political views and the influence of European values on his writings.

In the following essay, Grattan considers Cooper to be an overrated writer who is remembered today mostly for his personality rather than his writings.

In the following introduction to The Spy, Cooper discusses the basis of the novel and the state of the union since the Revolutionary War.