SEQUEL TO HOMEWARD BOUND
When Cooper began writing Homeward Bound, he had originally intended that the story of the Effinghams’ return to Templeton should fill only the initial volume of a novel that would concern itself primarily with their disappointed reaction to the shallow, pretentious society they find there – a society that has lost its pioneering roots, finally severing any link that had existed between civilization and the wilderness it has now usurped. This novel, also published in 1838, completes the cynical satire begun in Homeward Bound with a finely-drawn comedy of contemporary American manners.