Notions of the Americans

Picked Up by a Travelling Bachelor

By James Fenimore Cooper
Introduction by Gary Williams
Notes by Gary Williams

Subjects: Fiction
Series: The Writings of James Fenimore Cooper
Paperback : 9780791402146, 807 pages, April 1991
Hardcover : 9780791402139, 807 pages, May 1991

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Table of contents

Acknowledgments
Illustrations
Historical Introduction
Notions of the Americans

Dedication
Preface
Letter I
Letter II
Letter III
Letter IV
Letter V
Letter VI
Letter VII
Letter VIII
Letter IX
Letter X
Letter XI
Letter XII
Letter XIII
Letter XIV
Letter XV
Letter XVI
Letter XVII
Letter XVIII
Letter XIX
Letter XX
Letter XXI
Letter XXII
Letter XXIII
Letter XXIV
Letter XXV
Letter XXVI
Letter XXVII
Letter XXVIII
Letter XXIX
Letter XXX
Letter XXXI
Letter XXXII
Letter XXXIII
Letter XXXIV
Letter XXXV
Letter XXXVI
Letter XXXVII
Letter XXXVIII
Note A
Note B
Note C

 

Textual Commentary
Textual Notes
Emendations
Rejected Readings
Word Division
Appendix

Description

Notions of the Americans in considered Cooper's first work of non-fiction despite a thin overlay of character and plot. Written in the form of a travel narrative, it addresses the widespread ignorance he encountered in Europe about the people and institutions of the United States. It is an exuberant chant of praise for American representative democracy, encapsulating the utopian vision that compelled Cooper's writing career over three decades.

The introduction draws on materials never before published. this edition, distinguished by the seal of the Center for Scholarly Editions, is the first resetting of the text since the initial American edition in 1828.