Cooper, James Fenimore
Born September 15, 1789
Burlington, New Jersey
Died September 14, 1851
Cooperstown, New York
Writer
James Fenimore Cooper introduced the themes of the frontier, white/Indian conflict, and America's westward expansion as proper subjects for literary works. Perhaps even more importantly, he began to shape the romantic idea of the American West.
James Fenimore Cooper was a pioneer of American literature and the first writer to popularize the American West. Frustrated that most novels available in America were about English society, Cooper penned several books that have since become American classics. In his Leatherstocking Tales, which include such favorites as The Last of the Mohicans and The Deerslayer, Cooper showed that American themes—the conquest of the West, the conflict between whites and Native Americans, and manifest destiny—could produce great literature. Cooper also created Natty Bumppo, the protagonist of these tales, a rugged, romantic, nature-loving hero who has been copied in novels, films, and television Westerns ever since.
From Privilege to Poverty
Born on September 15, 1789, James Cooper was the twelfth of thirteen children born to William Cooper and Elizabeth Fenimore Cooper. Cooper's parents were of old Quaker stock, and they were part of the tight-knit world of wealthy New York families.
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