James Fenimore Cooper was a 19th century writer known for his historical romances and stories of the sea. His Leatherstocking tales including the novel The Last of the Mohicans are his best-known works. The Prairie is the final book in the Leatherstocking tales. Its hero Natty Bumppo is a frontiersman who in his last year of life is still helping people on the frontier. Other volumes in the series are The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder and The Pioneers.