A polyamide and a process for preparing the polyamide are disclosed. The process comprises reacting in a reaction mixture a monomer selected from unsaturated carboxylic acids, esters of unsaturated carboxylic acids, anhydrides of unsaturated carboxylic acids, and mixtures thereof, and a first amine to form an intermediate reaction product in the reaction mixture, wherein the first amine is selected from RR1NH, RNH2, RR1NH2+, RNH3+, and mixtures thereof, wherein R and R1, can be the same or different and each contain between about 1 and 50 carbon atoms and are optionally substituted with heteroatoms oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus and combinations thereof, and reacting the intermediate reaction product and a second amine to form a polyamide, wherein the second amine is selected from R2R3NH, R2NH2, R2R3NH2+, R2NH3+and mixtures thereof wherein R2 and R3 can be the same or different and each contain between about 1 and 50 carbon atoms and are optionally substituted with heteroatoms oxygen, nitrogen, sulfur, and phosphorus and combinations thereof, wherein multiple of the R, R1, R2, and R3 are in vertically aligned spaced relationship along a backbone formed by the polyamide. In one version of the invention, the monomer is selected from maleic anhydride, maleic acid esters, and mixtures thereof. In another version of the invention, the first amine is an alkylamine, such as tetradecylamine, and the second amine is a polyalkylene polyamine, such as pentaethylenehexamine. In yet another version of the invention, the first amine and the second amine are olefinic or acetylenic amines, such as the reaction products of an alkyldiamine and an acetylenic carboxylic acid. The first amine and the second amine may be the same or different depending on the desired polyamide polymer structure.