James Fenimore Cooper was born in New Jersey into the family of Judge William Cooper. When he was only one year old his family moved to what is now called Cooperstown, New York State. Cooper was privately educated by an English tutor on the family estate, and grew up as a young aristocrat. He studied at Yale College without much interest or distinction, and left the University without taking a degree. In 1808 he entered the US Navy, three years after he married, left the Navy, and settled down in Cooperstown to assume his inherited role as cultivated country gentleman.

         Cooper began writing at the age of thirty. The periodical press had started a campaign for a national literature. America had become politically independent of Britain, but culturally it was still in bondage to British and European culture. There was a particular need for a talented writer to record (for future generations) the heroic past of the country, and to express the nation’s mind in writing. Copper did it. He was moved to write a historical novel.

         Cooper’s first really famous novel was "The Spy”. It was written in 1821. It is a novel about the War of Independence. This novel was constructed after the model of Walter Scott’s historical novels: the exploits of the hero are closely connected with the historical period described; the hero of the novel meets historical characters, usually much idealized. The main character, a peddler Harvey Birch, is the spy. He is a patriot and is ready to serve General Washington to the last. Harvey Birch faces a double danger: he pretends to serve the British so as to disguise his real aim to serve America. This requires tremendous heroism and will-power. Birch is despised by his own people. He is alone and friendless. He has no one with whom to share the heavy burden that is on his conscience because he must keep the secret to himself all his life.