With the publication of the seventh volume of his Kent family saga ["The Lawless,"] the wonder is that Jakes is able to sustain the pace and his own apparent interest in what is seeming to be an open-ended project. This installment covers approximately the years 1869–1877, a time of growing labor unionism and the attendant battles and bloodshed. Several of the more significant Kents die here, and the direction of the new generation is forecast, as Jeptha's three sons react to the historical events of the day…. In addition to showing them as emblematic of their era, Jakes also succeeds in making the Kents interesting characters in their own right.

A review of "The Lawless," in Publishers Weekly (reprinted from the February 27, 1978 issue of Publishers Weekly, published by R. R. Bowker Company, a Xerox company; copyright © 1978 by Xerox Corporation), Vol. 213, No. 9, February 27, 1978, p. 154.