NINETEENTH CENTURY AMERICAN SCHOLARLY REACTION:
CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARLY REACTION:
- Henry Nash Smith's Virgin Land
In this seminal text in American studies, Henry Nash Smith identifies the effect of Cooper's The Pioneers, particularly the creation of the frontier hero, on American culture. "Leatherstocking, like Boone, was a symbol of anarchic freedom, an enemy of law and order." On this comprehensive site about this text, you will find Romancing the Indian with information about Cooper's treatment of the American Indian, and Leatherstocking as Myth and Symbol, a closer focus on Cooper's treatment of Natty Bumppo in The Pioneers and Smith's subsequent interpretation.