The Last of the Mohicans Lea, of Philadelphia. According to Susan Cooper, its success was "greater than that of any previous book from the same pen" and "in Europe the book produced quite a startling effect." Cooper's novels were popular, but reviewers were often critical, or dismissive. For example, the reviewer of the "London Magazine" (May 1826) described the novel as "clearly by much the worst of Mr Cooper's performances." Mark Twain notably derided the author in his essay "Fenimore Cooper's Literary Offenses", published in "North American Review" (July 1895). Twain complained that Cooper lacked a variety of style and was overly wordy. In the
Book of the Month Club quite the most exciting and unexpected thing that ever happened to me." In 1951 (its 25th year), the club distributed its 100 millionth book and selected J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye", which became both the most-censored and the most-taught book in America. In 1978, the Club selected "By the Rivers of Babylon", the first book by Nelson DeMille, who later wrote: "I will be forever grateful to Book of the Month for ensuring that my first book, "By the Rivers of Babylon", was not my last. When the Club selected "Babylon" in 1978, it reached hundreds of thousands