John William Jakes was an American writer, best known for historical and speculative fiction. His American Civil War trilogy, North and South, has sold millions of copies worldwide. He was also the author of The Kent Family Chronicles. Jakes used the pen name Jay Scotland among others.

The Bastard is a historical novel written by John Jakes and originally published in 1974. It is book one in a series known as The Kent Family Chronicles or the American Bicentennial Series. The novel mixes fictional characters with historical events or people, to tell the story of the United States of America in the time period leading up to the American Revolution. The novel was adapted into a four-hour television film in 1978, also called The Bastard.