The most famous of the Leatherstocking novels, newly translated for the first time in a century: In the summer of 1757, the British and French fiercely battle for dominance in the northeastern part of America—a boundless wilderness of forests inhabited by proud Native American tribes. A British officer attempts to reach the front with the mismatched sisters Alice and Cora to find their father. They fall into a trap from which only Leatherstocking and the Mohicans can rescue them. Cooper, the first great novelist of the USA, captivated figures such as Goethe and Melville, Stevenson and Joseph Conrad, before his adventure stories became the basis for Hollywood Westerns. The myth of America, grandly staged as an exciting adventure story—a piece of world literature waiting to be rediscovered. The afterword and the detailed notes illuminate the historical context.