John Jakes (born 1932) is a writer of fiction. Jakes first sold stories to pulp magazines while still in college in the early 1950's. He published several stories and novels over the next 20 years, many of them science fiction and historical fiction, while working in the advertising industry. In 1971, he began to write full time. He gained widespread popularity with the publication of his Bicentennial Series of books in the mid to late 1970's. He has since published several more popular works of historical fiction, most dealing with American history.
