James Fenimore Cooper
An item at American Writers Museum
Raised in a well to do New York State family, James Fenimore Cooper rebelled against his upbringing by getting expelled from Yale University and spending his inheritance. He turned to writing in his 30s to support his young family.
Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales (five novels published between 1823 and 1841) shaped the myth of the American frontier by celebrating self-reliance and the lure of the wild. He also romanticized Native American culture through his fictional hero, Natty Bumpo, a white frontiersman raised among the Delaware. Yet as ruggedly American as the Leatherstocking Tales may be, Cooper modeled them on the historic romances of British author Sir Walter Scott.
AMERICAN VOICES
An exhibit at American Writers Museum
American writing is distinctive, diverse, and comes in many forms from across the nation. The 100 authors featured here represent the evolution of American writing. Learn more about each writer on the timeline by turning the panels below their portraits. Explore centuries of writing by pulling, turning, and touching the interactive elements on the counter.
This is not meant to be a list of the greatest or most influential writers. Instead, we present authors and works as part of the American story as it grows and changes. Taken together, this rich literary heritage reflects America in all of its complexity: its energy, hope, conflict, disillusionment, and creativity.