The last of the Mohicans - Abridged by James Fenimore Cooper -PDF

Fascinating is the book's struggle with racism. Hawkeye keeps referring to himself as being "without a cross." I thought he was referring to some kind of non-Christian deism until late in the book, when I realized it was his way of saying he was of "pure" white blood, despite living with and like the Indians. In this way, the book reminded me a bit of Trollope's Can You Forgive Her, a book that still has the sensibilities of its time, but is struggling to transcend them. 

As Trollope could see that there was a way of thinking about the rights of women that he couldn't quite support, Cooper sees that there is something special in the ways of the native American, even as he condescends to it.

Review by Tim