The Americans by John Jakes

The last and final installment in the Kent Family Chronicles was released in 1980 - four years beyond the original target date of ending the family's adventures. It is also far short of the original goal of following the descendants of Philip Kent all the way through to the Bicentennial. 

I have to believe, after having read all of the books in such a short span of time, that Jakes himself had grown tired of the characters. Too often, the same storylines were carried through from book to book; from character to character. It almost seemed at times as if he were just transplanting the same scenarios to different times in history. 

The Americans, unfortunately, is no different. Although I found the book to be a great read, I was frustrated at way too many times feeling like I'd read it all before. A trademark of Jakes' books seems to be a person who holds a grudge against the protagonist for little or no reason and spends a good deal of time and trouble trying to avenge himself. In this novel we see that not once, but twice - with two different characters. 

The novel takes place in the latter half of the nineteenth century. Gideon Kent is leading the rich man's life in Boston along with his wife Julia (his cousin's ex-wife). Throughout the story, Gideon is continually troubled by what he sees as the indifference of his and Julia's children to the legacy left to the family by Philip Kent.

Gideon's daughter Eleanor is an actress at a time when that was synonymous with being a prostitute. She is married to Leo Goldman and suffers a great deal of turmoil, culminating in a fantastic tale of survival during the infamous Johnstown Flood. Some of the demons are in her own mind, put there by the atrocities she suffered in the previous novel and has never confessed to anyone. Others are there as a result of the anti-semitism that she and her husband experience. 

Will Kent's journey was probably the most in-depth in this novel. I don't know if the fact that it is given the most attention is what makes it the most interesting, but the historical background of how people lived in tenements while the rich partied on the backs of people who were sick and dying really gripped me. Will has decided to become a doctor, which was not a revered profession at the time. Society doctors spent most of their time treating women's fainting spells and making a fortune doing it. However, they practiced little real medicine. 

The time he spends in the tenements begins to open his eyes, and he is torn between working with people who will benefit the most from his knowledge, and becoming successful the way his step-brother defines success: lots and lots of money. 

Carter Kent leaves behind a Harvard education to try to find his own way out west. For a long time, he simply wanders aimlessly until his charming personality managed to get him ingratiated with the Democratic Party Boss in San Francisco. 

I found the historical background here interesting - especially in light of the 2000 Presidential election. It seems like a hundred years ago, these bosses consistently manipulated election to the desired - and paid for - outcome. The novel hints at Carter's own rise in the party to Washington politics. 

In fact, most of the history presented in The Americans made me think that many of the problems we face now in this country have plagued us for almost as long as the country has existed. In some ways, that made me sad. When I thought of it a bit more, I felt reassured that if we'd survived these conditions for the last hundred years, we'd survive it a while longer. 

Where the novel ends is at Gideon's death. We have no idea of what becomes of the Kent family in the 20th Century. We don't know what happens with Carter's political career; who will run the family newspaper and publishing business, or a whole host of other loose ends. 

One thing I disliked in the last novel was how certain things we had read were changed to suit the story Jakes developed, and he did the same here. Once again, the abuse Will was subjected to at the hands of his mentally ill mother seemed to become worse when written about now, over what was written during the time this was happening. 

Still, reading about Will's adventures out in Montana with Theodore Roosevelt, and the historical background of the New York City tenements made up for the shortcomings I felt were in the characters. This is a good ending to the series, and if the novels are not read so close together, there is a deeper appreciation for the story.