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 Ways of The Hour is Cooper`s last novel, published in 1850. It is a courtroom drama of a woman accused of murder and theft. Cooper used the novel, among other things, to express his discontent with changes in New York State`s judicial system during the 1840s, the corruption of courts and juries, and new ideas of women`s rights.