Written under the pseudonym "Jane Morgan," the two tales collected in this volume reflect the profound influence that British author Jane Austen had on Cooper's early development as a writer. Geared toward younger audiences, these romances strive to impart important moral lessons.

The Gentleman in the Garden: The Influential Landscape of James Fenimore Cooper examines the profound and previously unrecognized relationship between landscape and social standing in the work of James Fenimore Cooper. Both a broad overview of Cooper's work and an in-depth examination of its views on society, The Gentleman in the Garden is a creative and insightful exploration of the pioneer aesthetic of one of America's earliest authors

The essays in this volume examine the full breadth and complexity of the extensive oeuvre of American literary pioneer Catharine Maria Sedgwick (1789-1867).

A cosmopolitan author who spent nearly a decade in Europe and was versed in the works of his British and French contemporaries, James Fenimore Cooper was also deeply concerned with the America of his day and its history. His works embrace themes that have dominated American literature since: the frontier; the oppression of Native Americans by Europeans; questions of race, gender, and class; and rugged individualism, as represented by figures like the pirate, the spy, the hunter, and the settler. His most memorable character, Natty Bumppo, has entered into American popular culture. The essays in this volume offer students bridges to Cooper's novels, which grapple with complex moral issues that are still crucial today. Engaging with film adaptations, cross-culturalism, animal studies, media history, environmentalism, and Indigenous American poetics, the essays offer new ways to bring these novels to life in the classroom.