James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the first half of the 19th century. His historical romances of frontier and Indian life in the early American days created a unique form of American literature. The Chainbearer is the second book in a trilogy starting with "Satanstoe" and ending with "The Redskins". The novel focuses mainly on issues of land ownership and the displacement of American Indians as the United States moves Westward.