Jakes' North and South is not the best of books. Its themes could have been explored more deeply, and the characters are superficially drawn,they're figures you love to love or hate. The plot is too contrived. And yet, I was hooked from the first page till the last. For all its flaws, North and South is a thrill to read and experience. In addition, Jakes makes the civil war, the events and motives that led to it, understandable, yes tangible, for those whose knowledge about the war is limited to Hollywood renderings of it. At some point, I'd very much like to read Jakes' other civil war novels.