The Red Rover

The Red Rover is a novel by American writer James Fenimore Cooper originally published in Paris on November 27, 1827. It was published in London three days later on November 30, and was not published in the United States until January 9, 1828 in Philadelphia. Soon after its publication it was adapted for theater both in the United States and in England.


The novel follows the activities of the sailor Dick Fid, free black sailor Scipio Africanus and Royal Navy officer James Wilder as they encounter the famous pirate, "The Red Rover". A contemporary reviewer in the North American Review noted how Cooper was particularly good at writing sea novels such as The Red Rover, the sea being his more natural element than what the author calls wilderness novels which focused on an Indian introducing a white man to the wilderness, like The Last of the Mohicans. In addition, The Red Rover presents some of the first serious depictions of characters of African lineage in American literature.