William Cooper's Town: Power and Persuasion on the Frontier of the Early American Republic Book

What is interesting about this book is that while it is nominally a history, it is interlaced with a delicious helping of literary criticism.

The William Cooper of the title is the father of James Fenimore Cooper, and as Taylor shows, Cooper's novels were more than Revolutionary era romances. They also romanticized the Cooper family's personal history. "The Pioneers," in particular, functioned as a retelling of William's life story -- only with an ending more to James Fenimore's liking than what happened in real life.

I grew up in Central New York, not that far from Cooperstown, and I've read quite a few histories of this part of the country. "William Cooper's Town" (which won a Pulitzer) ranks as one of the best. I particularly appreciated Taylor's description of how the Revolutionary War disrupted the Colonial-era status quo both socially and economically. I've known for some time, for instance, that many New York State Loyalists fled to Canada or England after the war. Taylor pulls back the curtain on this story: when the Loyalists left, rogues and opportunists took advantage of the ensuing chaos to make claims (often of dubious legal standing) on "abandoned" property.

William Cooper was one of those rogues. From a start as a barely-literate wheelwright, he became one of the era's prominent land speculators -- and, by the standards of the time, enormously rich. And Cooperstown, New York, was the eponymous capital of his primary holding (the Otsego Patent). There William presided over his land leases and mortgages and related business concerns, and built a mansion and ran for political office -- and also tried to re-fashion himself as an aristocrat. The latter effort failed, ultimately -- partly because he simply didn't know how to conduct himself in society, and partly because he was actually a terrible business manager. When he died, his children lived the high life for a few years, but all too soon the his entire estate was bankrupt, auctioned off to pay creditors.

James Fenimore was protected from abject poverty because he'd married wealth. And then he got the idea to write a novel set in Revolutionary Era New York State . . .

I should add one other thing. Most people today probably know Cooperstown for the Baseball Hall of Fame, but it's also home to the Fenimore Art Museum, which has incredible collections American Folk Art, North American Indian art, Hudson River School art, and 19th-century genre paintings. Cooperstown has one of the coolest craft breweries in the country as well (Ommegang), the highly regarded Leatherstocking Golf Course (resort course -- I've never played it but I'd love to!), and a vibrant performing arts scene, including the internationally acclaimed Glimmerglass Opera.

After William's death -- in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the town struggled economically. Today, it's a jewel of a community, and well worth the trip if you are looking for a summer vacation spot in the Northeastern United States. Maybe I'll even see you there? ;-)