In 1954, he earned his master’s degree in American literature from Ohio State University before settling into a career as a copywriter working for a large pharmaceutical corporation and advertising agencies.Īt night, however, Jakes wrote short stories, eventually publishing about 200 of them. He moved often during childhood.Īfter graduating from Nicholas Senn High School in Chicago, Jakes studied acting at Northwestern University and creative writing at DePauw University. His father, John, was a career executive with the former Railway Express Agency, and his mother, Bertha, was a teacher. Maybe they’ll never read a Barbara Tuchman book - but down at the Kmart they’ll pick up one of mine.”Īn only child, John William Jakes was born in Chicago on March 31, 1932. “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,” Jakes told The Washington Post in 1982. Wolper, were nominated for 10 Emmys but won only one trophy, for costuming for a miniseries or a special in 1986. The three miniseries, containing 90-minute episodes produced by David L. The Book 2: Love and War miniseries saw many of the original actors returning for another six nights in 1986 before Book 3: Heaven and Hell ran over three nights in 1994. North and South: Book 1 became a highly rated six-part 1985 miniseries that starred Patrick Swayze, Lesley-Anne Down, David Carradine and Kirstie Alley and featured cameos from the likes of Johnny Cash, Hal Holbrook and Elizabeth Taylor.

Each one, which revolved around two families - the iron-making Hazards of Pennsylvania and the slave-owning Mains of South Carolina - were No. North and South, the first book in his Civil War trilogy, was published in 1982, with Love and War and the concluding Heaven and Hell arriving in 19, respectively. The series wound up selling 55 million copies. II, III and IV, Jakes became the first author to have three books on the New York Times Best Seller List in one year.

North and South by John Jakes