James Fenimore Cooper's 1828 novel The Red Rover is an exciting sea tale, chock-a-block with elements that make up many a classic of adventure, from The Prisoner of Zenda to Scaramouche to The Scarlet Pimpernel: unbelievable coincidences, mistaken or hidden or unknown identities, outrageous disguises, movements cloaked in secrecy, mutiny, disasters at sea, damsels in distress?and, in this case, pirates.

Unfortunately for readers two hundred years later, its language and writing style are confusingly prolix, making it off-putting except to scholars and enthusiasts. Too often The Red Rover is a thicket of all but impenetrable descriptive paragraphs and long-winded tangents and asides, blunting the action scenes and leaving hapless readers to claw their way hopefully to the next long paragraph.

This version, The Reconstructed Red Rover, cuts the novel's original length in half and clears away the clutter without distorting the characters, plot, atmosphere, or authorial intent, making a dandy story accessible to a modern audience, which it deserves.

Roger K. Miller is a former newspaperman and a freelance writer and editor. He is the author of seven previous books. He and his wife Nancy live in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin.