cover image The Last of the Mohicans

The Last of the Mohicans

James Fenimore Cooper. Atheneum Books, $19.99 (64pp) ISBN 978-0-689-84068-5

Newly abridged by Timothy Meis, James Fenimore Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans comes to life under the paintbrush of N.C. Wyeth, with illustrations originally published in 1919. The artist offers readers a close-up view of the French and Indian War, in paintings such as British colonel Duncan's struggle against a Huron warrior or the Mohican Chingachgook similarly fighting off another Huron warrior in the clearing of a wood. Wyeth's paintings also accompany Meis's adaptation of Daniel DeFoe's Robinson Crusoe, due out in February.