The Pioneers

By: James Fenimore Cooper

Narrated by: Jim Killavey

While portraying life in a new settlement on New York's Lake Otsego in the final years of the 18th century, Cooper deftly explores the cultural and philosophical underpinnings of the American experience. He contrasts the natural codes of the hunter and woodsman, Natty Bumpo, and his Indian friend, John Mokegan, with the more rigid structure of law required by a more complex society.

This is the fourth in Cooper's series of five books known as the Leatherstocking Tales, which were arranged according to the chronology of their hero, Natty Bumpo.

Public Domain (P)1986 Jimcin Recordings

Critic reviews

"The Pioneers is a rich chronicle of early frontier life filled with action, adventure, romance, and history." (The Literature Network)

Wonderful 4th part of the story of Nathaniel Bumppo!

The narrator is a New Englander so it made it more authentic to me. The picture painted of the “progress” and settling of our nation was quite moving from several points of view. I feel sad that the fields around me have been supplanted with houses. I can’t imagine the sadness of watching all the trees cut down to begin settling a place as that to which Natty Bumppo was witness.

Old fashioned but still relevant, edition is poor

I'm listening through all the leather-stocking tales, which are not only good stories, but little time capsule glancing back to a vanished American culture. Cooper's sensibilities are surprisingly modern, more modern in some ways than Samuel Clemens', who was born later, but raised in a southern (border) state.

This book is especially interesting because it gives a sympathetic but contemporary glimpse at the conflict between American 'Pioneers' and the indigenous people and genuine frontiersmen whose land they settled. These books are in some ways the first 'western' novels, but they do not have any of the simple-minded racism of the movie westerns Hollywood churned out in the 1950s. In the context of our time, the book will be considered racist, of course. Taken in the context of its own time, the book is progressive.

Though it takes place after 'the last of the Mohicans' this was published earlier. But it is more politically relevant today than that more famous work. The Pioneers was published seven years before the ethnic cleansing of Jackson's genocidal "Trail of Tears," and it reminds us that, even 190 years ago, the 'nativist' and 'manifest destiny' movements were objected to by many Americans (Cooper's books were popular at the time). The book is also a poignant warning and reminder that the difference between right and wrong can be over-ridden by corrupt interest combined with jingoism.

It also seems to me that Oliver Wendell Holmes 'Breakfast Table' books, written 30+ years later, owe something to the first few chapters of this novel. At any rate, the conversations among the 'Pioneers' seem authentic, and to have the same 'culture of conversation' that existed then, but has died away now. A time when Americans could disagree without name calling - definitely worth remembering.

Killavey has a clear voice and his words are always easy to catch and understand. His female falsetto is problematic, but that's not unusual in a male reader. But his pronunciation is more problematic (I blame this on the editor, more than the narrator). I'm guessing he is from the UK, based on the way he pronounced 'slough' (to rhyme with bough, rather than through - the way an American would pronounce it, and the way the characters in the book would have pronounced it). But why a Brit would be brought in to read Fenimore Cooper is beyond my guess. And how a Brit could think that the interjection 'och' (which is Scottish, after all) should be pronounced to rhyme with 'botch' is a mystery (and an annoyance) to me. These are just two examples of many mistakes. Any American listener will catch several more errors.

The editing is problematic in other ways, too. The transitions between chapters is non-existent. Between the last word of one chapter, the statement of the title of the next chapter, and the first word of the next chapter, there is no time-space at all. The chapter titles were clearly added afterwards, but they were added badly. Indeed, the last words of at least one chapter were simply chopped off. I suspect Mr. Killavey's voice, probably more sonorous in real life, was 'sped up' by the editors, too.

In sum, I heartily recommend the book, but not this audio edition.

Excellent and Insightful

This book has has many strange twists and turns and is both historical, in the broad sense of historical fiction, and an adventure story. It is written, as were most books back then in a rather rambling and wordy style. This was, after all, way before radio and TV and people liked their entertainment to last. Some readers of today, however, may not have the patience for a work like this. I like to do a little research on the classics I get and found an encyclopedia article that said the book "may be considered one of the first ecological novels in the United States." ( from Wikipedia.org ) That statement intrigued me but turned out to be quite true. There are many discussions in it about conservation and the use of natural resources. Amazing insight
for its time! The narrator was pretty good but made what I thought were a few pronunciation errors. However I checked them out and they were ok - alternatives pronunciations in a couple of cases, but acceptable.
Five Stars

Great Story...Performance was not so Great

You really have listen carefully to this version of the Pioneers. The production seems to have the performance set one notch below Alvin and Chipmunks. It what seems a race to the finish, the performance seems to not take a breath!

Poor recording

I very much enjoyed the novel. I was very irritated by the lack of any space between the chapters. Often the new chapter would cut off the last part of the final sentence from the previous chapter. Other than that, I enjoyed part 4 in the Leatherstocking series.