• The Americans

  • The Kent Family Chronicles, Book 8
  • By: John Jakes
  • Narrated by: Marc Vietor
  • Length: 26 hrs and 35 mins
  • 4.7 out of 5 stars (487 ratings)

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The Americans  By  cover art

The Americans

By: John Jakes
Narrated by: Marc Vietor
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Publisher's summary

The definitive volume in Jakes’s best-selling series finds the Kent family reaching to finally embrace its legacy - and its futureIn the final installment of the Kent Family Chronicles, the remaining Kents seek to fulfill Philip Kent’s original American dream.

As Gideon Kent’s health deteriorates, he fears for the future of his family. Their dynasty, now in ruins, stands as a tarnished symbol of all the Kents have lost in the unstable years of war and expansion. It falls to young Will to bring the family together - a task of epic scope. Only expert storyteller John Jakes could craft such a gripping finale to this beloved family saga, bringing the Kents’ drama - and the nineteenth century in America - to its riveting conclusion.

©1980 John Jakes (P)2013 Audible, Inc.

What listeners say about The Americans

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The Americans

Any additional comments?

These comments address The Kent Family Chronicles, the entire series of eight books, in audiobook format. All books are narrated by Marc Vietor. The entire series is approximately 125 hours of listening. Shortest book is 15.5 hours, longest over 26 hours. Vietor does a good job with narration, although the uniqueness of male voices is problematic. Most significant, you’ll have little difficulty determining who-says-what-to-who. Tempo and pacing fine, albeit the narration is a bit slow for my taste, bumped it to 1.25.

The entire series is a broad spectrum history of the United States from just pre-Revolutionary War through the 1890s and a chronicle of the Kent family through this time. Beginning with Phillip through the generations to the children of Gideon, a great-great-grandson. Members of the clan fight in the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Civil War, are at the Alamo, the California Gold Rush, the Great Chicago Fire, the Johnstown Flood, and much more. The author skillfully intersperses vignettes of imagined and factual history. For example, two of the fictional characters of the series are sheltered for a few days at the home of the Lincolns in rural Kentucky - a baby is part of the family, young Abraham. One of the fictional characters is counseled by Benjamin Franklin. Fiction, Phillip’s childhood friend is Marquis deLafayette, non-fiction: deLafayette’s role in United States and French military. The series is rife with this type of paradigm, but it is not difficult to determine what is true and what is fiction. All the instances that involve the Kents and John Jake’s other fictional characters are products of his imagination. Much of the rest is a fun methodology of conveying historical events.

The stories are very listenable. I found no need to re-wind or fast-forward; no segment boring or irrelevant. Theses books are not ‘love stories’ in the typical sense, albeit familial relationships, the crux of The Kent Family Chronicles, must include love stories, n'est-ce pas? In those areas where a sexual encounter is defined it is relevant to the plot and tastefully written. This does not occur often, but the clan does proliferate :-). A word to the prudish: there are a couple of rapes vividly described.

Very typical of the time written, the 1970s, writing is a bit verbose. Several of these books were adapted for television mini-series, popular at the time.

John Jakes is a terrific historical fiction author, recommended. Enjoy!

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I'm Sorry That It Has Ended!

Great series. Hats off to the author. Excellent job. I feel as if I am a part of the Kent family. I wish there were more books as I do not know what to do with my time now!!

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marvelous!!

as marvelous as it was the first time I read this series in the late 1970s early '80s when they first came out. the narrator really brings the story to life and of course John Jakes is just a superb author especially if historical fiction!

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gratifying conclusion!

a wonderful conclusion to a great historical series. highly recommended reading for those Love American history

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Good way to end the series.

The first book and this one is definitely my favorite of the series. Some of the other books had a lot of unlikeable characters and was hard to keep at it but I persevered through it and finished the series. I probably won’t ever have the desire to re read the series though. However I don’t regret reading the series and I’ll acknowledge that the series is worth reading at least once. 

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19th century story ripped from 2020s headlines. Sigh.

Those darn Kents. Their selfish, childish instincts get them gnarled up in predictable trouble. Greed is incentivized by wealth.
Kents cannot see nuance.
Wealth only happens when advantages are stolen from masses of people whose lives are then made predictably miserable. There are people in this real world who know how to share. What’s wrong with these stories and characters?
Where are stories marketed without ridiculous super villains and heroes? Americans, a nation born and built on genocide and always a slave class to exploit with bribed legislators creating only 2 classes, poor victims and rich perpetrators. Are you ready for 58 hours of this? Enjoy!

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Still The Best

Years ago I read the complete series of the Kent Family Chronicles. Recently I decided to listen to the audiobook series and I have to say that I didn’t want it to end. John Jakes is a master story teller and Mark Vietor is a Master Performer of the level that he magically takes you to the time and place of every event that takes place in this series. I only wish there was more.

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Captivated

I never heard of John Jakes; I read an article, in the Sarasota paper, that he died; I looked him up and ordered the first book, read one after another.
I have read masters of literature; don’t know where he stands, but, he captured my attention.

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Sad the series has ended

Like all good books and series, I couldn’t wait to see how it ended but dreaded that the end would come.
Masterful story teller. Well written and the characters were real. I’m sad this adventure is over. I wish John Jakes would write more of the strong Kent family.

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Saved the best for last

There were times when I wanted to stop this series and times when I could stop listening. Sorry to see it end. Enjoyed my time with the Kent family very much.

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