John Jakes, variously called the "godfather of the historical novel," "the people's author," and "America's history teacher," is the acknowledged contemporary master of the family saga. Best known as the creator of the Kent Family Chronicles (1974-1980),...

John Jakes was a prolific but obscure writer for some twenty years, until his "American Bicentennial" series of historical novels captured the public's imagination and made him famous. Jakes had published his first work while he was still a high school s...

Recently, Parade Magazine published a feature that posed the question "Is the American Dream Still Possible?" Eighty percent of the respondents to an October 2005 survey of 2,200 middle-income Americans believe that it is possible to achieve the American Dream despite the fact that 66...

An Indonesian whose family sold property and cars to pay his tuition, a boy who played soccer on a potholed street in Lima and an aspiring architect from Mumbai _ dreams and struggles brought them together in a small Virginia college town.An American tragedy carried...

By Michael Abernethy / Times NewsKim Oliver did it once. Saturday, he’ll do it again. Oliver, owner of O&S Concrete, is organizing a protest against amnesty for illegal immigrants this weekend in Graham. Oliver says illegal immigration hurts small business and the economy. He’s organized...

As the search for the missing mother of four dead children entered a third day Wednesday, a portrait began to emerge of an immigrant family struggling to live the American dream.Pedro Rodriguez and Deysi Benitez had faced language hurdles when they arrived in the far...