The Kent Family Chronicles Books in Order

The Kent Family Chronicles is the series most closely tied to John Jakes's breakthrough as a historical novelist. These books follow the Kent family across major eras of American history, beginning around the Revolution and then widening into a multi-generation saga. The early volumes start with Philip Kent, who arrives in America after a rough beginning in Europe and England, and his descendants carry the story forward from there.

This is Jakes at full scale.

The appeal of the series is not just that it covers famous events. A lot of historical fiction does that. What Jakes does here is let history hit people at home. Wars, elections, migration, expansion, class conflict, business schemes, and regional rivalries all matter because they reshape marriages, fortunes, loyalties, and family identity. The Kents are often close to big public moments, but the books never forget the private costs.

As the series moves on, the frame widens from the Revolution to the frontier, national growth, sectional crisis, the Civil War, Reconstruction, and beyond. That gives the books a built-in rhythm of renewal and conflict. One generation builds, another squanders, another fights, another tries to repair. Jakes understands that the drama of a long family line comes from repetition with variation, the same pride, ambition, desire, and resentment showing up in new clothes.

The tone is expansive but accessible. These are long books, yet they are written to carry readers forward with clear stakes and constant movement. Jakes mixes fictional characters with real historical figures, not to show off research but to make the past feel inhabited. Readers who like sagas where national history and domestic upheaval keep crashing into one another usually find a lot to enjoy here.

The series also helped define the modern popular family saga in America. You can feel Jakes discovering how well his instincts fit this form, the appetite for sweep, the eye for turning points, and the understanding that a country can be told through one family if the family is messy enough. The Kents certainly are.