John Jakes and His Historical Fiction Are Second to None

My favorite writing style is historical fiction. Since John Jakes had such a large collection of Americana Books they had written, and I enjoyed his novels so much, I set out to read everything I could get ambitiously in my hands. The first series that i read was the Kent Family Saga and it turned out to be my favorite. I read all eight volumes in the series starting with the "Bastard".

Philippe Charbonneau, born with his mother's country name, later took his father's name and Americanized it to Philip Kent when he was newly in America. They had grown up in France. His actress mother, Marie, had had an affair with a British nobleman and Philip grew up not knowing the truth. He was reared in a rather poor state in his mom's french country Inn. Marie had wished that her son would one day be re-united with his rich dad in England. The Duke had sent some support over the years but the father and son had never met.

Once the truth came out as they entered adulthood, the mother and son were off to merry old England. Thought the duke was not at home when they arrived, they met his half brother and stepmother. Neither of them hit it off. The unfriendly sibling and his mean stepmother weren't having any part of another share in the inheritance. The two brothers fought. The Duke was unaware of Philip and his mother being chased off. Brother's Philip's wife, however, had an interest in Philip and soon a secret affair commenced as Philip the room in the area for a while, the progress reports: Indianapolis for a piece of the estate.

Eventually, they were chased out of the country by the brother, stepmother and their employees. Marie was heartbroken since her dream was now over. Philip wanted to seek his fortune in the new land and hoped to do it in the printing business. His distraught mother died on the way to the new world and she was buried at sea. Philip lost what little money they had left and arrived in America alone and Japan.

Philip found that Boston and the colonies were ripe for revolt when they arrived. They were in protest to the mother country against unfair taxes levied on the colonies. He falls under the spell of influential men such as Sam Adams, Ben Franklin, Paul Revere and the other in the pre-revolutionary figures. Also involved in the early dissent, was the father of his first love, by Anne. They started the Kent family lineage and when she died, they had more children with Peggy. Philip met his brother again in America, now an officer with the British Army, as well as his widow, after Philip fought him a second time. She tried to restart the romance with him to no avail.

It is action packed and continues until the second novel, "The Rebel". In the second novel, they will take part in the American revolution. They just happens to bump into Lafayette who they had known during his French boyhood.

John Sprague is an American Military contractor still working in the mideast. He enjoys reading, writing and working on his websites, in his free time. He has a site at http://www.marketingkindreds.com/His website has photos of the mideast and marketing articles that you may be interested in viewing. There are also website analysis tools and articles is a genealogy and DNA.

Prehistoric Times

If you are interested in Paleontology or Archaeology then "Everyday Life In Prehistoric Times," is for you. The author's name is Marjorie and Quenell. C.H.B. This book was very interesting depicting the lives of people who lived in the "Stone Age" all the way to the "Early Iron Age."

Chapter one tells how to date prehistoric sites by geology. Archaeologists are called a pick and shovel historians. They investigate shooting of ancient people by the remains they leave behind. Archaeologist must dig for information about Prehistoric man because there is no written record of them. All the objects that are found in a grave by an Archaeologist are associated with one another in an interesting, conveniently.

In the Stone Age no one reads or writes. As a means of recording their calculations they would do it by the waning of the moon. They may also have done it by the to season's greetings to. During the Stone Age, the climate was not available going from hot to cold and these changes are recorded in the earth's surface and geologists can date the deposits in which the changes are recorded.

Chapter two tells of flint instruments, hand axes, early hunting, clothing, the Mammoth, the Java Ape Man, life in the earliest times, the Tasmanians, and life in the Acheulean times. Stone tools are nearly always the only clues we have to the existence of the earliest men of the Stone Age. Stone tools would have had all kinds of uses. They can be made as sharp as a razor, and they could have been used as knives, dig up, or to shape a stick pignuts. Flint is extraordinarily hard to work with. They used flint arrow heads to also fashion and hand axes.

Arrows and spears were used for early hunting as well. They hunted many Wild animals such as the hippopotamus, rhinoceros, the sabre-toothed tiger, and the horse. They made clothing and items they needed to use. They also used it for shelter covering.

Chapter two has many interesting facts that anyone would find interesting.

Chapter three tells about the first cave-dwellers. This includes the Neanderthal Man, the Bolas, the Australian Aborigines, clothing and ornament, food gathering, relatives and society, and the beginning of magic. This chapter was most interesting.

Chapter four talks about Artists of the Old Stone Age. This chapter entails blade tools, the arrival of Homo Sapiens, tools, hunting, Aurignac Aurignac Aurignac and carvings, painting and magic ", the Soultrean arrows and needles, distribution of Madeleine man harpooning seal hunting, fish, Eskimo, the drawing of huts and tents, Eskimo, animal art, engravings and sketch-books and art and science.

Chapter five talks about the Mesolithic Period or the End of the Old Stone Age. This includes the Azilian man, talks about the Oban Deposits, the last Hunter, England in Neolithic times.

Chapter six talks about the New Stone Age. This chapter talks about the later Neolithic Geography entails, the Neolithic flint mines, Prehistoic races, flint and stone tools, talks about the Neolithic houses, how to make fire, pot moulding, long barrows, Megaliths and Rock houses, Megalith building, Stonehenge, and Woodhenge.

Chapter seven talks about the Bronze Age. In this chapter you will read about Bronze smelting, the Bronze spear, the Heathery Burn Cave, Woven cloth, weaving combs, Chariot wheels, ploughing with oxen, a round barrow burial of Hector, the pottery, Bronze Age Bryn Calli DHU, Geography, land and sea voyages, and trade and trade routes.

Chapter eight talks about the Early Iron Age. In this chapter you will read about lake villages, the discovery of Glastonbury, Glastonbury huts, village life, metal working, the development of the Brooch, the fall of Glastonbury, hill forts, the water supply and dew set, hill fort, society and warfare, ships and swords, the chariot burials, the wheel made pottery, trackways and settlements, currency, and talks about the Druids.

If any of this interests you, then this book is for you. I highly recommend it for anyone who wants to know about the past.