The first of Cooper's Leatherstocking Tales , The Pioneers introduces the character of Natty Bumppo, one of literature's most unforgettable heroes, an outsider on the advancing edge of a civilization he can neither abide nor escape. Bumppo makes his first appearance here as an aged hunter living on the fringe of settlement near Templeton (Cooperstown), New York, at the end of the eighteenth century. An introduction by historian Alan Taylor ( William Cooper's Town ) explores the real historical backdrop against which Cooper's imagination flourished.