Before Last of the Mohicans...?

Question

I've never read the Last of the Mohicans (nor any of the Leatherstocking tales) and was wondering if I should read The Deerslayer or The Pathfinder before I throw myself into Last of the Mohicans?

I know that Cooper wrote LotM before the Deerslayer/Pathfinder in real life, but both of the other stories come before LotM in the Leatherstocking tales, and I was just curious as to whether reading Deerslayer/Pathfinder first would make Last of the Mohicans any more enjoyable?

Can anyone help me out?

Answer 1

I recommend reading them in the order Cooper wrote them. Yes, this will mean that you don't know some things as you're reading "Last of the Mohicans" but nobody else did either, back when the books were first written.

Be prepared--the book's plot is significantly different from the movie. The book is also very politically incorrect. I found the racism in it disturbing, though I suppose you can see it as educational--a depiction of the accepted views of the time.

Answer 2

Yes , I'd read the books in the chronological order the way the story unfolds, and I say this because I recently read Last of the Mohicans and missed The Deerslayer and The Pathfinder very much as information for the back story on Leatherstocking.
Happy reading, as we always say...

Answer 3

I'd say go in the order of release rather than chronological order. Sometimes you want to start in the middle of things (in medias res, meaning in the middle) to get the story to unfold and make more sense as you go along.

Answer 4

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