It is 1757. The English and French are engaged in a savage, bloody war for control of the North American continent. Making tenuous, shifting alliances with various Indian tribes, the two European powers struggle to gain the upper hand on unfamiliar, forested battlegrounds. Caught in the middle is Hawkeye, a white scout who was raised among the Indians. Not fully belonging to either world, Hawkeye has learned to respect the best of both civilizations. But with war swirling around him, Hawkeye must finally struggle to save his own life and those of a small band of colonists. Fighting by his side are Hawkeye's Mohican friends, Chingachgook and the young Uncas. The three risk their lives to save a British commander's daughters—the dark-haired, courageous Cora and the fair, fragile Alice. Their chief adversary is the renegade Huron warrior Magua, whose attraction to Cora and hatred for whites make him a vengeful, insidious enemy. Written in 1826, The Last of the Mohicans was one of the first great novels of American literature, and James Fenimore Cooper's greatest triumph. The book established the American frontier as a setting for thrilling adventures and introduced, in Hawkeye, the prototype of the rugged frontier hero.