Jakes, John (1932—)
John Jakes was born in Chicago, Illinois, on March 31, 1932. His parents fostered a love of the library in him and his association with books has followed him throughout his...
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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 publi...
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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 ...
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Critical Essay by Bruce Cook
While the publishing world has been agog for months over the nearly unparalleled success of Alex Haley's Roots, another venture, in its own way just as successful, ...
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Critical Essay by Publishers Weekly
With the publication of the seventh volume of his Kent family saga ["The Lawless,"] the wonder is that Jakes is able to sustain the pace and his own a...
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Critical Essay by Booklist
[In The Lawless] Jakes maintains his popular formula: high-lighting the tribulations and successes of generation after generation of one family as reflective of the dramatic...
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Critical Essay by Publishers Weekly
[In "The Americans"] John Jakes again proves his superior storytelling skills in the eighth volume of the Kent Family Chronicles (and, Jakes suggests ...
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Critical Essay by Joan Hinkemeyer
Readers who have followed the Kent family since The Bastard and The Rebels will not be disappointed with [The Americans] …, which concentrates on the family of...
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