John Jakes - Crown Family Saga

John Jakes - Crown Family Saga - Retail (epub) (Request)



01 Homeland

02 American Dreams

Homeland

In Homeland, Jakes has created an enthralling new dynasty - the Crowns of Chicago - contending with the awesome forces of history. Homeland is a towering epic of the immigrant adventure in America that calls to mind the rich tradition of Dreiser, Steinbeck, and Dos Passos. It pulses with a vast gallery of characters Dickensian in their vitality and distinctiveness. Among the major and supporting cast are: Paul Crown, a Berlin street boy who immigrates to America, to be caught up by the wonders of the motion pictures, and by Julie Vanderhoff, endangered daughter of a Chicago-stockyards tycoon; Joseph Crown, Paul's German-born uncle, ex-Civil War soldier and iron-willed beer baron; Ilsa, Joseph's wife, torn between old ways and the "new women" of her era; Joe Junior, the Crowns' oldest son - rebellious, drawn to the socialist movement his father hates; Rose French, tough-minded daughter of a railway worker, who tries to claw her way into high society; Julie's Aunt Willis, a fiercely emancipated woman, always involved with a new lover; and raffish, profane Colonel Sid Shadow, a born tinkerer and promoter, who sees the true potential of the movies as a mass medium. Into the lives of these characters are woven the real stories of real people: labor leader Eugene Debs; ambitious Theodore Roosevelt; ruthless Thomas Edison; two strong-willed spinsters who changed the roles of American women forever, Clara Barton of the Red Cross and Jane Addams of Hull House; young Black Jack Pershing; the aging Buffalo Bill; and more. Spanning a turbulent watershed decade in world history, 1890-1900, the action sweeps from Europe to America and across the length and breadth of a nation exploding with technological change, rapacious greed, social protest, vice, political corruption, class warfare.



American Dreams

a sweeping saga of passion, adventure, glory, ambition, and hope, is the much-anticipated follow-up. The Crown family now stands at the threshold of a new millennium, a remarkable age of promise and opportunity. Everything seems possible, yet the distant rumble of war foreshadows turbulence and tragedy. Certainly it is an exciting time to be alive. Jakes was drawn to this period, he says, because, "in little more than ten years, America, and the world, went from idyllic golden summers of peace to the bleak and bloody winter of war — war so apocalyptic, so destructive, it could hardly be imagined by most of those living at the time."



Spanning 1906 to 1917, American Dreams charts the triumphs and tragedies of three extraordinarydreamerswho all struggle to make their mark in one of America's burgeoning industries. We meet 26-year-old Fritzi Crown, daughter of successful beer brewer Joe Crown, and a woman of fierce determination and formidable ambition. Fritzi yearns for the excitement of life on the stage, but pursuing an acting career will mean defying her wealthy father and social convention. Through this young starlet's eyes, on her road from starvation to stardom, Jakes incorporates fascinating detail about the early days of the film industry. Readers meet Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, Fatty Arbuckle, D. W. Griffith, and Erich von Stroheim, among other real-life notables.



Meanwhile, Fritzi's brother, Carl Crown, is searching for a higher purpose in his life after being thrown out of Princeton. His secret dream of flying takes him from Henry Ford's Detroit to the war-torn European skies as a daring aviator. His cousin Paul also finds his fortunes drastically altered by the impending war. An idealistic filmmaker and acclaimed author, Paul sacrifices his own career in the name of truth by screening footage of the atrocities of the German army. Returning to Europe intent on obtaining more war footage, Paul experiences a devastating personal loss in the trenches that is a precursor to the violence to come.



With its abundance of period history, historical fact, and highly entertaining prose, American Dreams is sure to please Jakes fans and newcomers alike.