In American literature, James Fenimore Cooper is a name that Americans have heard of but can't always place, when compared to the works of individuals like Edgar Allan Poe and Emerson and Thoreau. But every American comes across his work, and today he is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo. Perhaps his most famous work is The Last of the Mohicans, often regarded as his masterpiece and well known as a movie title.Cooper's best known historical novels talked about life on the American frontier, but The Spy was a bit of a different kind of historical novel. In this thriller, Cooper tells a tale of a spy during the American Revolution, and his encounters with famous figures.