| Researcher | Author: Title | |
| Jeffrey Landis | Jakes, John: Love and War | |
| Assignment 1: Bibliographic Description | ||
| 1. First Edition Publication Information | John Jakes. Love and War. San Diego, California: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich Publishers, 1984. Copyright Statement: All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Requests for permission to make copies of any prt of the work should be mailed to: Permission, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers, Orlando, Florida 32887. Additional Copyrights: John Jakes 1984 | |
| 2. First Edition in Cloth, Paper, or Both? | Every indication is that the hardcover and paperback
editions did not appear simultaneously. The release date for the hardcover version was November 13, 1984. Despite this the book appeared on bestseller lists as early as September 28, 1984. The paperback edition probably was released later in the year and first showed up on the bestsellers list in the end of December, 1984 | |
| 4. Pagination | 519 leaves pp. [8] 3-1019 [3]
| |
| 5. Edited and/or Introduced? | The book is neither edited nor introduced. | |
| 6. Illustrated? | There are no illustrations within the text. However, there
are maps on the end papers. On both front and back, the map extends beyond the end paper onto a facing page made of the same material as the end paper. The maps on both end papers are identical. They are both white and purplish maps of the United States (1861) beginning on the East Coast and extending to the western boarders of Missouri, Arkansas, and Louisiana. Within each map, there is an inset of the whole territory of what is now the United States. This inset is in the top left hand corner of the bigger map, and through the use of different shadings differentiates between slave states, free states and territories. In addition to the inset there is also a scale set at 150 miles as well as the inclusion of crossed swords to indicate sights of civil war battle sights. | |
| 8. General Appearance | The presentation of the text is attractive. The text is of a
good size and quite easy to read. There is no evidence of type wear or paper discoloration. The cover is showing little sign of aging. The only distinguishable marks are several indentations the size of a pencil point on the front cover. The spine (and approximately one inch of the front and back covers) is purplish cloth. The rest of the book is bound in tan cloth. The front cover is bare except for the name of the author written in gold script across the bottom. The back cover is also bare, except for a serial number written in smaill gold numbering across the bottom next to the spine. Page Measurement: 6" by 9" Text Measurement: 4.5" by 7.5" Text size: 89R | |
| 10. Description of Paper | The paper used is smooth to the touch. There are no
distinguishing marks or chain lines on the paper. The paper is still in good condition and shows no sign of tears anywhere. There is also no discoloration. | |
| 11. Description of Binding | Front and Back Covers: purplish cloth extending about
one inchfrom the binding. The rest is tan cloth. The tan cloth is smooth to the touch. The purplish cloth is more textured and abrasive. It bears the most similarity to what Gaskell refers to as dotted-line grain. The front cover is bare except for the author's name written in gold script across the bottom. The back cover is bare except for a serial number written in small gold numbering on the bottom, next to the binding. Spine: The spine is made of maroon cloth that is textured and abrasive (possibly dotted-line grain). The title of the book, appears on the spine with the authors name above it. They are both written in gold lettering. Below the title is the name of the publishing company as well as the publishers crest. This too is written in gold lettering. The end papers are two identical maps of the United States in 1861 (described above). There is a dust jacket, but there is no information laid in by the publisher. Front Cover: John Jakes (In Script) Back Cover: 0-15-154496-4 Spine: JOHN JAKES |LOVE AND WAR|[publishers crest]|Harcourt| Brace|Jovanovich | |
| 12. Title Page Transcription | Recto: LOVE|AND|WAR|JOHN JAKES|[publishers crest]|Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich, Publishers|San Diego New York London Verso: copyright [copyright symbol] 1984 by John Jakes| All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be repro-|duced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or|mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information|storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from |the publisher.|requests for permission to make copies of any part of the work|should be mailed to: Permissions, Harcourt Brace Javanovich,|Publishers, Orlando, Florida 32887|Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data|Jakes, John 1932-| Love and war.|1. United States-History-Civil War, 1861-1865-|Fiction. I. Title.|PS35600.A37L6 1984 813'.54 84-12895|ISBN 0-15-154496-4|Printed in the United States of America|First Edition|B C D E | |
| 14. Manuscript Holdings | The original outline, first and final draft manuscripts and
all attendant papers for Love and War are held by the American Heritage Center; University of Wyoming, in Laramie, Wyoming. | |
| 15. Other | This book seems to be in generally good shape. There are
very few signs of aging or tear on the book itself. The dust jacket looks somewhat old and weathered, but only to a slight degree. Also of note is the fact that the book although officially released by the publisher on November 13, 1984, was already appearing on bestseller lists as early as September 28th according to Publisher's weekly. | |
| Assignment 2: Publication History | ||
| 1. Other Editions: | John Jakes. Love and War. San Diego, California: Book Club
Edition, 1984. No Distinguishing Features Available | |
| 4. First Edition printings or impressions? | At least 2 printings of the novel. No information on the
number of impressions could be found. | |
| 5. Editions from other publishers? | John Jakes. Love and War, Dell Paperback Edition. New York,
NY: Dell Publishing, 1984. John Jakes. Love and War. London, England: Fontana Publishing, 1986. John Jakes. Love and War. London, England: Collins Publishing, 1985 | |
| 6. Last date in print? | As of February 28, 2000 Love and War is still in print. It
is offered by Dell Publishing Company Inc in paperback for $7.50. | |
| 7. Total copies sold? | N/A | |
| 8. Sales by year? | 1985-431,420 copies sold.
No Information is available for the years following 1985 since the book was no longer on the bestseller list. | |
| 9. Advertising copy: | A two full page add was taken out in Publishers' Weekly (Sept 7,
1984. Vol 226 No. 10). First page featured the cover of the hardcover edition of the novel. There was text inserted into a box in the bottom right hand corner of the page. The box read as follows: A Giant Campaign for a giant Book|350,000 copy first printing ...$250,000 for|advertising promotion, publicity unprecedented. 18 hour|miniseries based on Love and War and North and South to|be produced by David L. Wolper and Warner Brothers for| ABC television...Stunning four color poster...Cooperative| advertising...30 second spots on all CBS radio|stations...full page newspaper advertisements...million|circulation magazine ads... author tour... On the facing page there is a full page of text. The text is divided into two columns, each consisting of approximately 100 words. The text is synopsis of the story that is Love and War. Inset into the text there are several black and white drawings of what apppear to be scenes from the book (Although there are not illustrations in the book). | |
| 11. Other promotion? | Author tour
Color posters Mewspaper, magazine and radio advertisements Part of ABC miniseries | |
| 12. Performances in other media? | Love and War, The North and South Trilogy Volume 2. Audio
Books Inc, 1984. 2 sound cassettes. Recorded by George Grizzard. The North and South Trilogy. Random House Audio Books, 1987. 6 cassettes. Recorded by George Grizzard. Love and War was also made into a miniseries produced by David Wolper and Warner Brothers for ABC television. It was an 18 hour miniseries based on both Love and War and North and South. | |
| 13. Translations? | Liebe und Krieg [German]
Zurich, Germany. Bastei Lubbe, 1988 Liebe und Kriege [German] Zurich, Germany. SV International/Schwizer Verlagshaus, 1987 Voreioi kai Notioi [Greek] Athena, Greece Ekdoseis Karre, 1985 Milos'c i Wojna [Polish] Katowice, Poland Krajowa Agenga Wydawnicza, 1992 | |
| 14. Serialization? | Love and War was serialized to Ladies' Home Journal | |
| 15. Sequels or Prequels? | Prequel
John Jakes. North and South. New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1982. Sequel John Jakes. Heaven and Hell. San Diego, California: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1987 | |
| Assignment 3: Brief Biography | ||
| Focused Biography (1982-85)
According to author John Jakes there were no real significant events in his life during the writing and publication of Love and War. Jakes goes on to say that there were also no major events from his formative years that influenced this specific book (e-mail correspondence with author). This is understandable since not only is Love and War historical fiction, but it is also the second part of a Civil War trilogy. According to Jakes, the main influences for his style of historical fiction writing as a whole were the swashbuckling adventure films of the 30's and 40's. Despite the lack of specific influences on Love and War, the re were still some important events that occurred for John Jakes in the years surrounding its publication. In 1983, Jakes was awarded The Friends of the Rochester Library Literary Award. Also on November 12, 1984, the day Love and War was released, Jakes was the subject of an article in People Magazine. This article recounted Jakes' twenty-year struggle to achieve prominence and success as an author. Finally at the time Love and War was being released, Jakes was also writing the lyrics for a musical based on the life of Edgar Allen Poe (Publishers' Weekly). It can be said that the novel Love and War fits in nicely with Jakes' career as a whole. Although Jakes has written many works in various genres such as science fiction, mystery, suspense and children's literature, he finally found success as a writer of historical fiction. His eight part "American Bicentennial" series sold over forty million copies and landed him a deal with Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishers to produce a Civil War Trilogy that would come to be called The North and South Trilogy. Each of these three books would become a bestseller, as would Jakes' subsequent historical fiction novels. Love and War is also representative of Jakes' style of writing. As an author, Jakes is consistently lauded for, "attention to detail, careful plotting, epic sweep and historical research (Galenet)." In an interview with Publisher's Weekly, Jakes talks about how he goes about doing research for his novels and specifically for Love and War. Jakes does all of the research himself so that no details he may want to include are omitted. According to Jakes the process of writing Love and War, "Was like weaving a tapestry." He started with his characters and a set amount of years in which the story was to take place. According to Jakes, he than wove in both little known details he had learned about the time period in which his characters were living as well as his interpretations of more important people and events (Publisher's Weekly). In this manner he is able to construct an accurate and entertaining work of historical fiction. The publication of Love and War was not surrounded by any great controversy. It marked the ongoing harmonious relationship between Jakes and Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Publishing, the company who published Love and War's prequel North and South. The book was made into a very successful miniseries aired on ABC and produced by David Wolper. Jakes played a small role in the production of the miniseries, proofreading the scripts and offering general comments and assistance (e-mail from author). | ||
| Assignment 4 | ||
| Contemporary Reception: | ||
| John Jakes has been recognized as one of the best-selling
authors of the past twenty years. His historical fiction novels, such as The Kent Family Chronicles and The North and South Trilogy, have sold millions of copies and are perennial members of the bestseller lists. Despite this popular success, Jakes has long been a target for critics who consider his work of little literary merit. One critic, assessing Jakes as an author even went as far as to comment that, "Jakes' success is enough to make every good writer in America turn over in his wastebasket." This pattern of popular success without critical acclaim can be seen with Jakes' novel Love and War. Most of the book's critics describe Love and War as a book that people will enjoy reading, but still criticize Jakes' style of writing. According to New York Times' writer R.P Mills, "Love and War will have its audience but not the same one that authors such as Bruce Cotton and Margaret Mitchell might have." Mills goes on to acknowledge that the novel is full of good details, but that it fails because, "all is seen from individual points of view, so that no overall view of war emerges." This sentiment is also shared by Washington Post critic Rory Quirk who criticizes Jakes for failing to confront the full extent of the war. According to Quirk, "Jakes succeeds in reducing the sheer enormousness of the civil war to a personal level." Despite this criticism, Quirk gives the most flattering review of Love and War. He extols Jakes' ability to intertwine fictional characters with historical detail. He also praises Jakes' ability to create villains that he calls, "beyond loathsome." In general, Quirk calls Love and War, "a massive, lusty, highly readable book that is not for those who like their civil war fiction in the Rhett and Scarlet mode." A much harsher criticism can be seen in a December, 1984 edition of People Magazine. Here the reviewer assigns the novel a grade of "C." The reviewer goes on to say that Jakes' characters are, "bloodless stick figures who are either pure villains or flawless," and that Jakes himself, "is to good writing what Grandma Moses was to fine art." The critic concludes by comparing the novel to Stephen Crane's The Red Badge of Courage, claiming that the latter, "has more drama, romance and poetry in one paragraph than there are in all the pages of Love and War." From the reviews it is apparent that many critics do not look highly upon Love and War, or on John Jakes as an author. This is a criticism Jakes has had to deal with throughout his career. However, according to Jakes' editor, "John doesn't think of himself as a literary writer at all." Jakes himself, in an interview with the Los Angeles Times classified himself as a, "middle ground writer somewhere between very literary material and the trash at the end of the spectrum." No matter what kind of writer Jakes is, one thing that can not be denied is that his novels have a great appeal to the reader. Amazon Reader Reviews. WWW.Amazon.Com. Keyword: Love and War "Love and War." People Weekly. 3 Dec 1984, v22 p23. Mills, Robert P. "Love and War" The New York Times Book Review. 4 Nov 1984. Quirk, Rory. "Uncivil War Fiction." The Washington Post. 3 Nov. 1984, Fin. Ed. Venant, Elizabeth. "The Modest Midas." The Los Angeles Times. 18 Sept.1989. | ||
| Subsequent Reception: | ||
| As of April 10, 2000 I was unable to find any subsequent review
of Love and War in any literary journals or magazines. However, readers continue to read the novel and share their opinions through such forums as Amazon's reader reviews. These reviews are for the most part very positive in their nature. One reader called Love and War, "one of the best boks I ever read." Another described the novel as, "a blend of history, romance, war, family ties torn apart and then some," going on to add, "I hated to see this book end." | ||
| Assignment 5 | ||
| Critical Essay: | ||
| On November 12, 1984 Harcourt Brace Jovanovich publishing released Love and War. The second book in John Jakes' Civil War trilogy, Love and War continued chronicling the lives of two families, the Hazards of Pennsylvania and the Mains of South Carolina, on opposing sides of the war. The Mains and the Hazards, were long time family friends who now find themselves on opposite sides of the war that divided a nation. As they each stood up for their respective beliefs, families became divided and friends often found themselves face to face on the battlefield. Despite minimal critical success, Love and War rocketed up the bestseller lists, landing at number two even before the date of its official release. The novel would go on to sell over 430,000 copies and be the number four best-selling non-fiction novel of 1984. What made this novel so successful? Love and War is a prime example of the fact that while there is no certain recipe for a bestseller, all bestsellers have a certain subset of ingredients, many of which have little to do with what lies between the covers, that combine to make it popular amongst readers.
One lesson taught to the reader by Love and War is that in many cases success perpetuates success and that the name and reliability of an author alone can sell books. This is very true with author John Jakes. Jakes' previous nine novels had all been bestsellers. His eight part Kent Family Chronicles were all paperback bestsellers and had sold in excess of forty million copies. Love and War's prequel, North and South sold well over 200,000 copies and reached number eight on the yearly bestseller list in 1982. Jakes had already developed a strong fan base. A fan based that appreciated the manner in which his epic historical fiction novels incorporated both historic detail and a classic good vs. evil plot. Jakes stuck closely to this formula with Love and War. His attention to detail was perhaps the most lauded aspect of his book by many literary critics. One critic praised Jakes for, "skillfully skirting a major shortcoming of many historical novels, in which historical detail and fictional figures move on parallel tracks, with history serving as nothing more than a brightly painted backdrop." The critic, Rory Quirk, goes on to compliment the way in which Jakes meshed his fictional characters in factual events while still being able to recount the era. Jakes also continued to make his stories battles of good against evil. In the case of Love and War, Jakes did not assign the role based on region, but he did clearly define characters from both the North and South as either heroes or villains. Almost all readers who had read North and South would probably have known before even starting the book that characters such as George hazard and Orry Main would act with impeccable valor and bravery throughout the novel. Likewise, readers could easily assume that villains such as the power crazy Elkaniah Bent and the scheming Ashton Main would be constantly trying to ruin the lives of the heroes. Jakes' incredibly evil villains were praised by one critic who characterized them as, "beyond loathsome," describing Ashton Main as, "a piranha in hoop skirts with the social conscience of J.R. Ewing." It is this predictability that may be in part responsible for the success of Love and War. Readers most likely knew exactly what they would be getting from Jakes before they even read page one of the book. This use of formula and the practice of sticking with what works are not at all uncommon with bestsellers of the past two decades. Most readers know, without having to be told, that almost all John Grisham books will feature some underdog character, usually a lawyer, triumphing against a much larger force of evil. Similarly a reader knows almost instinctively that a Tom Clancy Novel will feature espionage, intrigue and a large repertoire of technological vocabulary. The same phenomena can be seen amongst countless other best selling authors across almost all genres. Jackie Collins, Steven King, Mary Higgins Clark, Robin Cook, and many others find their way on to best seller lists by using the same basic story lines and characters in almost all of their novels. In the past two decades it does appear that the same authors are dominating the best seller lists. In 1984, the year Love and War was released, only three of the top fifteen bestsellers of the year were efforts from authors who had never before been best-sellers. This phenomenon has only increased over time. In the year 1999, a mere thirteen authors controlled over thirty-seven percent of the fiction best-seller list. The most plausible explanation for this is that book readers tend to buy books by authors they know. Perhaps it is because of the fact that Jakes' Love and War reached number two on the new York Times Best Seller list over a week before it was even officially released by Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich Publishing. Of course it goes without saying that the responsibility of creating a best seller goes beyond just the author of the novel. In the case of Love and War, there was a great deal of effort put into the book's publisher Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich in order to assure that Love and War would be a success. Like Jakes himself, Harcourt Brace also attempted to trade upon the author's previous success. They did this in several ways. One was in the physical presentation of the novel itself. Jakes' name is perhaps the most prominent item on both the cover and the spine of the novel. While the books title, written in gold lettering, seems almost to blend into the red background of the dust jacket, the white lettering of Jakes' name practically jumps out at a potential book buyer. Also, Jakes' name is written in extremely large print and placed above the title of the novel on both spine and cover. If this is not enough, the cover of the novel also reads, "Author of North and South." This is again written in a very stark contrast to the red background and appears before even the title of the novel. The physical presentation of the novel was not the only aspect of marketing that drew upon the name recognition of Jakes and his previous works. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich supported the release of the book with a major author tour and Jakes himself was featured in People magazine the week before the book's release. Finally many of the radio and print advertisements for Love and War attempted to draw attention to Jakes himself. One publisher's weekly advertisement began, "the author's sequel to the best selling North and South." Another Publisher's weekly ad began, "From the best selling author of North and South." This type of advertising combined with the fact Harcourt Brace and Jovanovich spent over 250,000 dollars for promotion to help ensure that any potential book buyer who was exposed to these ads would be able to make the connection between Love and War, John Jakes and North and South. In addition to an aggressive ad campaign, Love and War also benefited from the creation of a twelve part miniseries based on its prequel, North and South. The miniseries itself was an event of epic proportion. According to the New York Times, the November 1985 miniseries surpassed all previous television productions with its thirty million-dollar budget. The miniseries, which included several major stars such as Patrick Swayze, James Read and David Carridine, landed in the top ten in the Nielson Ratings. What is perhaps most interesting is the time during which North and South was aired. The November 1985 coincided with the release of the paperback version of Love and War. The publicity of a major television miniseries undoubtedly had some role in catapulting Love and War to the number one spot on the paperback Best Sellers List. The strength of the miniseries is further illustrated by the fact that in the weeks following its airing North and South reached number five on the Paperback Best Seller List, this being over three years after its original release. One has already seen how authors and publishers can actively seek to make a book into a bestseller. Almost all will agree, however, that without a receptive public even the best efforts will go un-rewarded. Love and War is a prime example of how the public tastes at any given time can either increase or decrease a book's sales. Just like many consider the nineties the decade of the legal thriller, a close examination will reveal that the eighties were indeed the decade of the historical fiction novel. We already know about John Jakes who cracked the top fifteen in 1982, 1984 and 1987 with North and South, Love and War, and Heaven and Hell respectively, but their are a multitude of other authors who flourished writing historical fiction novels in the 80s. James Michener cracked the top fifteen in 1983, 1985 and 1987 with Poland, Texas, and Legacy. Louis Lamour experienced even greater success in the 80s. According to Bowker National his novels, Lonesome Gods, The walking Drum, Jubal Sackett, Last of the Breed and The Haunted Mesa were all in the top fifteen in yearly sales from 1983 to 1987. Add to this mix the success of authors such as Gore Vidale, Leon Uris and a host of others and it becomes even more apparent that historical fiction was an extremely popular genre in the 1980s. Conversely, one can look at the novels Jakes has written in the past decade and realize that perhaps this decade is not one for historical fiction. Sticking to his familiar theme Jakes wrote such books as Homeland in 1993 and American Dreams in 1998. Neither of these novels approached the level of success reached by The North and South trilogy. This can, in part, be attributed to a shift the tastes of book readers. Love and War benefited though, from more than just the public's appetite for historical fiction in the 1980s. It also benefited from the popularity of what Sonia Karim referred to in her database entry on North and South as "Clanback Fiction." This genre depicts, "Large American families undergoing tough times, using each other as their support systems to strive." There are many possible explanations of why and how this type of book became popular. In a February 28, 1982 interview with the Washington Post, Jakes attributes the popularity of "Clanback fiction" to the disarray of the American family. Furthermore, many in the literary industry, such as publisher Lyle Engel, actually believe that Jakes himself was responsible for creating this genre himself. These points however are not as important as the fact that Jakes had the benefit of writing Love and War during the time period when this type of novel was extremely popular. Additionally, the popularity of the "Clanback" genre is not only limited to novels. One need only look at television and movies to see that this theme was pervasive in all aspects of society. Television shows such as Dynasty, Falcon Crest and Dallas were immensely popular throughout the eighties, as were many daytime soaps. All of these shows depicted families struggling against themselves and the outside world, trying to stay together in much the same way as the Mains and the Hazards in Love and War. The same theme was evident on the big screen as well. Movies such as the Color Purple, Terms of Endearment and On Golden Pond received both critical and popular praise for their depiction of families' struggles throughout the years. As we have seen, many factors must come into play in order to make a novel be a best seller. In the case of Love and War most of these contributing forces lay outside the covers of the book. In fact the critical reception of the novel itself seems to have the least to do with its major success. How does an author whose success according to one critic, "is enough to make every good writer in America turn over in his wastebasket," produce a novel that is the fourth best selling novel of 1984? What does this say about best sellers in general? The success of Love and War seems to make apparent a seemingly obvious distinction that often gets overlooked. In order to become a best seller one need only sell the most books. Jakes and Harcourt Brace were able to sell millions of copies of Love and War by tapping into the public preferences of the time, finding a formula for success and sticking to it. While the preferences and formulas themselves may change over time, the level of success that can be reached once these factors are identified remain constant. Sources "Best Seller List." New York Times 4 Nov. 1984: sec. 7, pg. 40. Galenet-search "John Jakes" Karim, Sonia "ENTC 312 Best-sellers database entry for North and South by John Jakes. Landis, Jeffrey "ENTC 312 Best-sellers database entry for Love and War by John Jakes. "Love and War (book reviews)." People Weekly 3 Dec.1984, v22 p23. Maryles, Daisy. "Connecting the Numbers." Publishers Weekly 10 Jan. 2000. Moore, Julia, ed. Bowker Annual. New York and London: RR Bowker Company, 1984,1985,1986,1987,1988. "Paperback Best Sellers." New York Times 24 Nov. 1985: Sec. 7, Pg. 42. Quirk, Rory. "Uncivil War Fiction." The Washington Post 3 Nov.1984, Fin. Ed. | ||
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