“The Spy, or the Tale of the Neutral Territory” is a novel by Fenimore Cooper that earned universal recognition for his talent as a novelist. At the heart of the novel is the fate of a man forced to hide his feelings and convictions, to endure the bitterness of accusations of treason without even the power to say a single word in his defense—even under the threat of death by execution. And all because he is Washington’s spy in the service of His British Majesty, King George. The events unfold in the American States during the War of Independence of 1776–1783.