Other books in the series were “The Furies” and “The Titans” (both 1976), “The Warriors” (1977), “The Lawless” (1978) and “The Americans” (1979). “The Bastard” and its first two sequels, “The Rebels” and “The Seekers” (both 1975), were adapted for television as mini-series in 19. The books tracked generations of the Kents from the Revolutionary War to 1890. He also wrote paperback novels and even a few hardcovers, mostly westerns and fantasies, some under the pen names Jay Scotland and Alan Payne. He published hundreds of short stories in Galaxy Science Fiction, Mike Shayne Mystery Magazine and other outlets. Jakes began freelance writing in his spare time while working in advertising from 1954 to 1971. Loyal readers devoured his accounts of his fictional characters’ abductions, adulteries, secret papers, contested fortunes and other staples of pulp fiction. Critics called him a journeyman storyteller who strived for historical accuracy, populating his books with the likes of Benjamin Franklin, Samuel Adams, Paul Revere, Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis.

Jakes made no pretense to lofty literary aspirations. Rarely taking a vacation, churning out as many as 5,000 words a day, Mr. Maybe they’ll never read a Barbara Tuchman book - but down at the Kmart they’ll pick up one of mine.” “I began to realize about two or three books into the Kent series that I was the only source of history that some of these people had ever had. “I feel a real responsibility to my readers,” Mr. But he seemed more at ease walking alone on a Civil War battleground, or quietly researching his books at local libraries in Hilton Head, S.C., and on Bird Key in Sarasota, where he lived much of the year. His chunky books were prominently displayed at virtually every bookstore in the nation. He gave interviews, made promotional appearances on television and was affable for long lines of people at his book signings.

Jakes seemed ill suited for the celebrity life. A modest, genial family man who for many years had thick bowl-cut gray hair, Mr.

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