Readers who have followed the Kent family since The Bastard and The Rebels will not be disappointed with [The Americans] …, which concentrates on the family of Gideon Kent. Jakes displays the complete panorama of America in the 1880's, as Gideon's youngest son Will moves from life with Theodore Roosevelt at his Medora ranch to practicing medicine in the tenement slums of New York…. It's all here—countless historical details, romance, violence, suspense, and a strong sense of the worth of the common people plus a reaffirmation of the duties of citizenship.

Joan Hinkemeyer, in a review of "The Americans," in Library Journal (reprinted from Library Journal, February 15, 1980; published by R. R. Bowker Co. (a Xerox company); copyright © 1980 by Xerox Corporation), Vol. 107, No. 4, February 15, 1980, p. 528.