by
James Fenimore Cooper
Language: English
Release Date: March 1, 2011
Published in 1850, this was Cooper's final novel—and America's first courtroom drama. When innocent Mary Monson is accused of murder, she refuses to clear her name, insisting on a jury trial. Cooper, who opposed the trial-by-jury system, mounts his soapbox to rail against the system’s susceptibility to corruption, among other flaws.