In The Pathfinder, James Fenimore Cooper tells a thrilling tale of naval adventure, rival love, and wilderness experience that captures the rough-and-tumble life on the shores of Lake Ontario during the French and Indian War. Cooper is the foremost author of historical romance in American literature, and The Pathfinder remains one of the finest examples of the genre. The Pathfinder stands alone as an example of Coopers unique ability to depict how the combination of tenderness and violence brings order to the American frontier.