Written in 1826, but set in 1757, The Last of the Mohicans portrays ordinary men and women caught in the crossfires of the French and Indian War, when France and Great Britain battled for control of North America. Featuring double agents, dastardly villains, kidnappings, as well as stunning descriptions of the Adirondacks, the Catskills, and the Lake George area, this novel is considered Cooper's greatest work. Indeed, its portrayals of the rugged yet resourceful frontiersman, as well as the wise, stoic Native American were genre-defining—as was Cooper's sympathy for the plight of the First American cultures.

A historical romance that influenced North American literature for decades, The Last of the Mohicans remains a keystone text to this day.