James A. Michener (1907–1997)
Author of The Source
About the Author
James A. Michener, 1907 - 1997 James Albert Michener was born on February 3, 1907 in Doylestown, Pa. He earned an A.B. from Swarthmore College, an A.M. from Colorado State College of Education, and an M.A. from Harvard University. He taught for many years and was an editor for Macmillan Publishing show more Company. His first book, "Tales of the South Pacific," derived from Michener's service in the Pacific in World War II, won the 1947 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and was the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein Broadway musical South Pacific, which won the 1950 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Michener completed close to 40 novels. Some other epic works include "Hawaii," "Centennial," "Space," and "Caribbean." He also wrote a significant amount of nonfiction including his autobiography "The World Is My Home." Among his many other honors, James Michener received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1977. He was married to Patti Koon in 1935; they divorced in 1948. He married Vange Nord in 1948 (divorced 1955) and Mari Yoriko Sabusawa in 1955 (deceased 1994). He died in 1997 in Austin, Texas. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by James A. Michener
Firstfruits: A Harvest of 25 Years of Israeli Writing (1965) — Editor; Introduction — 47 copies, 1 review
Caravans 1973 8 copies
James A. Michener papers 4 copies
[no title] 3 copies
Mot Rymden II 3 copies
Facing East 3 copies
James A. Michener on the Social Studies (Bulletin (National Council for the Social Studies)) (1991) 3 copies
Frihetens Sjö II 2 copies
Caribbean, Volume 1 of 2 2 copies
Frihetens Sjö I 2 copies
The Novel / Texas 2 copies
Centennial / Chesapeake / Hawaii 2 copies
Mot Rymden I 2 copies
Chesapeake, Volume 1 of 2 2 copies
The Convenant 2 copies
O pacto 2 copies
Legacy / The Covenant, Volume II 2 copies
Caribbean, Volume 3 of 5 2 copies
Los puentes de Toko-ri 1 copy
A ponte de Andau: romance 1 copy
De Bron; deel 1 en 2 1 copy
The Source James A. Michener 1 copy
Legacy 1 copy
MIC Sayonara 1 copy
La alianza 1 copy
The Greatest Adventure 1 copy
Sáu người đi khắp thế gian 2 1 copy
Sáu người đi khắp thế gian 1 1 copy
IBERIA 1 copy
HAWAII 1 copy
The Quality of Life 1 copy
Facing East 1 copy
Bridge at Adau 1 copy
Texas-Vol II 1 copy
Texas-Vol I 1 copy
WHY MAN EXPLORES : NASA 1 copy
El manantial de Israel 1 copy
Die Bucht Roman 1 copy
Hawaii, Volume 3 of 3 1 copy
America 1 copy
Caribbean / Space 1 copy
Dynasty 1 copy
Sáu Người Đi Khắp Thế Gian 1 1 copy
VIAJE 1 copy
De bron 1 copy
The Novel 1 copy
Tales of the South Pacific.."Abridged Edition, Containing 14 Or the Original 19 Stories" (1955) 1 copy
World is My Home (Random House Large Print) Lrg edition by Michener, James A. (1992) Paperback 1 copy
Legado de honra 1 copy
Colorado 1 copy
Alaska, Volume 1 of 4 1 copy
The Source, Volume 1 of 4 1 copy
Pacifique Sud... 1 copy
Associated Works
Reporting Vietnam: American Journalism 1969-1975, Volume 2 (1998) — Contributor — 299 copies, 2 reviews
On the Firing Line: The Public Life of Our Public Figures (1989) — Contributor — 126 copies, 1 review
Who's Writing This? Notations on the Authorial I, with Self-Portraits {not Antæus} (1995) — Contributor — 76 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1975 v01: Our John Willie / Centennial / Harlequin / Eric (1975) — Author — 32 copies, 1 review
Reader's Digest Best Sellers 1966: The Source | Intern | Hotel St. Gregory | To Sir, With Love (1966) — Author — 23 copies
Golden Moments: A Collection of United States 1984 Commemorative Olympic Issues (1984) — Foreword — 20 copies
Adventures in Two Worlds / The Bridges at Toko-ri / Kiss Me Again, Stranger / Rivets / The Silent World / Story of Aviation / The Swimming Pool / 7 Short Stories of De Maupassant (1953) — Contributor — 12 copies
Three Great Novels of World War II: Tales of the South Pacific by James A. Michener / Mister Roberts by Thomas Heggen / Battle Cry by Leon Uris (1985) 11 copies
Reader's Digest Today's Best Nonfiction 21 1992: The World is My Home / Bette Davis: A Biography / Forty Days / Swift Justice (1992) — Author — 10 copies
Best-in-Books The Silver Chalice; A King's Story; A Man Called Peter; The Day Chist Died; Kids Say the Darndest Things; A Stillness at Appomattox; High Adventure; Return to… (1960) — Contributor — 8 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books 1951 v04: Fallen Away / Return to Paradise / A Roving Commission / The Southwest Corner / The Arms of Venus (1951) — Author — 5 copies
The Spell of the Pacific: An Anthology of Its Literature — Introduction — 4 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Hawaii • Surface at the Pole • Pioneer Go Home • The Lovely Ambition • Village of Stars (1961) — Contributor — 4 copies
Readers Digest Condensed Books: The Man With the Golden Gun • The Vine and the Olive • The Source • Geordie • The Century of the Detective (1966) — Contributor — 4 copies
Best-In-Books: Twilight for the Gods / 20,000 Miles South / Rascals in Paradise / Lincoln's Commando / Bermuda (1957) — Contributor — 4 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Monarch of Goddess Island • East of Eden • The Anatomy of a Crime • Return to Paradise • The Intruder (1956) 4 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: The Invisible Cord • Incident at Hawk's Hill • Daylight Must Come • Centennial (1975) 3 copies
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Cold Harbour • Something to Hide • Journey • Landscape of Lies 3 copies
Books Abridged: Sayonara, Fire in the Ashes, Adventure Happy, and Cress Delahanty (1954) — Contributor — 3 copies
Best-in-Books: Jubilee / Greenwillow / This Great Big Wonderful World / The Mind Goes Forth / ...And the Rain My Drink (1956) 3 copies, 1 review
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Adventures In Two Worlds • The Bridges At Toko-Ri • Old Herbaceous • Operation Cicero • Digby (1954) 2 copies
Reading-for-Men: The Gracious Lily Affair, Tip on a Dead Jockey, Rally Round the Flag, Boys!, They Fought for the Sky, Rascals in Paradise (1958) — Contributor — 2 copies
Um túmulo na areia - Etapas da cirurgia - Trilhas sangrentas - A bruxa de Mount Mellyn - Volta ao paraíso — Contributor — 2 copies
De grote Ceasar; De tijgerkat; De goden van Hawaii; Diamanten voor Janice — Contributor — 2 copies, 1 review
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Trustee from the Toolroom • The Leopard • The Triumph of Surgery • Hawaii (1961) — Author — 2 copies
O Cardeal; A Cidade Que Recusou Morrer; Vento Oeste Para o Havaí; O Caçador de Cavalos — Contributor — 1 copy
Reader's Digest Auswahlbücher 1957,4. Herbst 1957 — Contributor — 1 copy
Reader's Digest Condensed Books: Journey • Killer's Wake • Lady of No Man's Land • Grass Roots (1989) 1 copy
The Teaching Experience: An Introduction to Education Through Literature (1976) — Contributor — 1 copy
Selezione del libro. Marnie. I ponti di Toko-Ri. I cacciatori di microbi. La landa senza stelle. (1963) — Contributor — 1 copy
The Ethnic Image in Modern American Literature, 1900-1950, Volumes 1-2 (1984) — Contributor — 1 copy
Keizerlijk bezoek; Laten wij opnieuw beginnen; Jeremy Todd; De bruggen bij Toko-ri — Contributor — 1 copy, 1 review
Selezione del libro: i grandi successi condensati contiene: La sposa di Harry Black - Segnale trentadue - Ritorno al paradiso - La morte corre sul fiume — Contributor — 1 copy
Det Bästas Bokval (1956) vol 2 : Broarna vid Toko-Ri; Vinden sveper nedåt Ryder Hill; På lösan sand; Elefant-Bill; Spindeln — Contributor — 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Michener, James Albert
- Birthdate
- 1907-02-03
- Date of death
- 1997-10-16
- Gender
- male
- Education
- Swarthmore College
University of Northern Colorado - Occupations
- novelist
editor
teacher - Organizations
- United States Navy (WWII)
- Awards and honors
- Presidential Medal of Freedom (1977)
Honorary portrait image on a United States postage stamp (2008)
Pulitizer Prize (Fiction, 1948) - Relationships
- Uys, Errol Lincoln (assistent bij boek Het Verbond)
- Short biography
- James A. Michener
- De wereld is mijn thuis
- Historische romans op basis van gedegen onderzoek
- Bewogen leven
James A. Michener (1907-1997) had geen makkelijke jeugd: hij verloor al zeer jong zijn ouders en kende als kind veel armoede. In de Tweede Wereldoorlog was hij onder meer piloot en beleefde enkele crashes. Over deze tijd schreef hij onder meer in Tales of the South Pacific (1947), zijn debuutroman die meteen bekroond werd met de Pulitzer Prize.
Het zijn meestal lijvige werken, maar de romans van Michener zijn nog altijd zeer de moeite waard. Hij schreef tientallen (overwegend) historische romans. Zijn verhalen gaan letterlijk de hele wereld over: de onderwerpen die hij behandelt betreffen vaak de geschiedenis van een bepaald land. Michener was zelf ook een fervent reiziger: zo heeft hij de meeste landen ter wereld wel bezocht.
Research
Het werk van Michener wordt gekenmerkt door grondige research en gedegen kennis van het onderwerp waarover hij schrijft. Meestal werkte hij jarenlang aan een boek. - Cause of death
- kidney failure
- Nationality
- USA
- Birthplace
- Doylestown, Pennsylvania, USA
- Places of residence
- Doylestown, Pennsylvania, USA
Austin, Texas, USA - Place of death
- Austin, Texas, USA
- Burial location
- Austin Memorial Park, Austin, Texas, USA
- Associated Place (for map)
- Texas, USA
Members
Discussions
The Bridge at Andau ~ James Michener in Quote Keepers (June 2025)
Michener 'read alikes" in Book Recommendations Requests (May 2022)
What Are You Reading The Week of 31 January 2015? in What Are You Reading Now? (July 2015)
Reviews
Astounded at how terrible this book actually is. Sure, it is an incredible amount of interviews and minute by minute timeline reconstruction. But the conclusion is that because there was property damage, these kids deserved to die. I was also flabbergasted at the comparisons of broken windows on the ROTC building (which they did burn) to Cristaalnacht. Michener is a respected historian, but I have no idea why I should accept this narrative. Just really insane that Michener pointed to all show more kinds of things -- the rage at Nixon's illegal maneuvers in Cambodia, the police turning off the NBA finals and closing all the bars, the regular fever that comes with being 19 and having the first nice weekend with nice weather and no snow. It was not a riot.
It is wrong to send tanks to kill unarmed teenagers at point blank range on a college campus. I can't believe Michener could not bring himself to say this, because he believes that it is fitting to extrajudicially kill people for property damage.
Shout out to Ruth, for spraypainting fuck nixon fuck pigs all over campus and being smart enough to get away and to not be located by the author later. I hope you are doing well, if you are still out there. show less
It is wrong to send tanks to kill unarmed teenagers at point blank range on a college campus. I can't believe Michener could not bring himself to say this, because he believes that it is fitting to extrajudicially kill people for property damage.
Shout out to Ruth, for spraypainting fuck nixon fuck pigs all over campus and being smart enough to get away and to not be located by the author later. I hope you are doing well, if you are still out there. show less
When I first learned I would be moving to Alaska, courtesy of the Army, I was living in Georgia. The sticky-clothes humidity of Atlanta seemed such a far cry from the minty, glacial image I had of the 49th state. In the months preceding the move, I wanted to learn everything I could about Alaska before I ever set foot on my first snowflake.
[Note: “Learning everything‿ usually means reading books until my eyeballs dry up and fall out of my head.]
Alaska! I sniffed deeply of the humid show more Atlanta air, coughed on the exhaust fumes from the nearby interstate, then hiked down to the local bookstore. I grabbed John McPhee’s Coming into the Country, I snatched up Joe McGinniss’ Going to Extremes, I found Natalie Kusz’ Road Song. I read all those until my eyeballs went pink-a-plink onto the surface of my desk.
But there was one more book—the granddaddy of narratives, the mother of all tomes, the Mt. McKinley of literature: James Michener’s Alaska.
The simplicity of the title says it all. Of course, the same is true of nearly all his other books which masquerade as geography-history lessons. Iberia. Poland. Space. I’d never read a Michener book before. Alaska seemed as good a place to start as any.
Back in my sweltering apartment, I cranked the air conditioner on high and opened the book to the first of its 1,073 pages. About a billion years ago, long before the continents had separated to define the ancient oceans, or their own outlines had been determined, a small protuberance jutted out from the northwest corner of what would later become North America.
Uh-oh.
I settled myself in for a long summer’s nap. This is the trademark, start-with-prehistory method the author typically employs. It’s tedious, but I suppose he feels it’s necessary.
Michener goes on in a similar geologic vein for many pages, as he describes shifting subterranean plates, tectonic forces and the formation of the first snowballs in Alaska. It is a tough geology lesson; but to his credit, Michener makes it bearable.
It isn’t until 15 pages into Alaska that the first character is introduced. No, it’s not some bone-knife carrying Asian who wandered over on the Bering Strait land bridge. It’s a mastodon—you know, the kind of wooly mammoths that used to help Wilma Flintstone wash dishes. The first humans don’t walk onto the scene until page 39.
I think you see what I’m getting at. Michener takes his time. He is slow—glacially slow—at building the layers of the land’s history.
Reviewing Alaska the book is as daunting a task as reviewing Alaska the state. Oh, the sweep! The panorama! The cast of thousands (including mastodons and whales)!
Unlike Alaska the state, however, Alaska the book is dull. Oh, certainly Michener has all his facts in order and the reams of research—the very towering stacks of dust-collecting manuscripts he must have pored through!—is indeed impressive. This is history writ large, folks. But as I said, it’s also history writ lackluster. If I’m going to invest 1,073 pages and about twice as many minutes in a story about the Union’s largest and wildest state, then I want to come away shaking and dripping perspiration. The only time I broke a sweat was when the air conditioning went on the fritz and I was stuck reading about frigid blizzards in 90-degree Atlanta heat.
Mr. Michener knows his stuff when it comes to the events and people of Alaska. The ancient whale-hunters, the first Russian explorers, the fur traders, the missionaries, the gold prospectors, the salmon fishermen, the wilderness pilots, the World War Two combat troops on the Aleutian islands, the politicians wrangling for statehood in 1959, the environmentalists, the hunting guides, the oil-drilling roughnecks, the dog mushers, the mountain climbers, the urban latte-sipping Anchorage residents—they’re all here, crowded into this pulp-and-ink landscape. Does Michener take liberties with history? Probably. Is he comprehensive? Certainly. Does he keep you awake at nights with his epic narrative? Barely.
I work with a very nice lady who swears up and down that Michener is the greatest writer who ever walked the face of this earth. I would kindly point her in the direction of Messrs. Hemingway, Chekhov and Shakespeare, but the sad hell of it is, she’s read them, too.
“There was no one like James Michener!‿ she gushes.
“That’s true,‿ (muttering under breath) “thank God.‿
When it comes to creating believable characters and, most importantly, describing them in page-turning prose, Michener is downright clumsy. Here, for instance, is how he first describes just one of the thousand characters in Alaska:
Forty-three years old, he had a complete beard and heavy mustache to make his little face look more dignified, a matter which concerned him deeply, for he wished always to impress strangers favorably despite his diminutive stature. His exact height would always be a matter of debate, for his detractors, a numerous band, claimed that he was under five feet, which was preposterous; he referred to himself as five four, which was equally absurd; because he favored built-up shoes, he looked to be about five two. But whatever his height, he often looked a dwarf among men markedly taller than he.
A few paragraphs later, there’s an “action‿ sequence:
As he neared the top of the hill he was hit by a blast of snow borne by a strong wind what came howling over the crest, and for just a moment his little feet lost their hold and he slipped backward, but he quickly caught himself, struggled to the top, and saw below him, as he had know he would, the flickering lights of Deadhorse.
The rest of the book doesn’t vary much from that overwritten prose style. It’s as if Michener scrawled the manuscript with a pen clutched in a fist: large, bold, uninventive strokes.
In all fairness, I will say that I learned a great deal about the Last Frontier before I boarded the plane in Atlanta and traveled to Fairbanks for my first three-year stay in the state. As I flew over the endless mountain ranges—stacked like jagged rocks dusted with powdered sugar snow—I thought to myself, “Well, I certainly know as much about this place as the average high school student who sits through a year of State History.‿
[By the way, when I later moved to Texas for three years, I picked up Michener’s volume by the same name for a literary crash course of that state as well. Upon my return north to Fairbanks four years ago, I toyed with the idea of going through Alaska again as a refresher course, then I thought, “Naw…ain’t gonna be the same fool thrice.‿]
Of course, prior to coming here, I didn’t have a good grasp of what truly makes Alaska the pristine heaven it is. Reading Alaska, I had no way of knowing what it feels like to have the skin on your face stretched tight by minus-30-degree weather, or the way you can practically hear the multi-colored aurora borealis shimmering like folds of rustling silk or how you’ll use every last ounce of your strength when you’re in a wrestling contest with a 45-pound king salmon thrashing on the other end of the fishing line. That’s the Alaska I didn’t get from Alaska.
I suppose you don’t read a James Michener book for its page-turning prospects. You invest your time in his tomes for the education you receive about a particular land and its people—sort of a mini crash-course in science and history. That’s why you can bear up under passages like this:
In the early days the land was not hospitable to settlers. Animals and human beings who came to this promontory had to adjust to profound cold, great distances and meager food supplies, which meant that the men and women who survived would always be a somewhat special breed: adventurous, heroic, willing to contest the great winds, the endless nights, the freezing winters, the cruel and never-ending search for food. They would be people who lived close to the unrelenting land both because they had to and because they reveled in the challenge.
Not unlike reading Michener’s book itself. show less
[Note: “Learning everything‿ usually means reading books until my eyeballs dry up and fall out of my head.]
Alaska! I sniffed deeply of the humid show more Atlanta air, coughed on the exhaust fumes from the nearby interstate, then hiked down to the local bookstore. I grabbed John McPhee’s Coming into the Country, I snatched up Joe McGinniss’ Going to Extremes, I found Natalie Kusz’ Road Song. I read all those until my eyeballs went pink-a-plink onto the surface of my desk.
But there was one more book—the granddaddy of narratives, the mother of all tomes, the Mt. McKinley of literature: James Michener’s Alaska.
The simplicity of the title says it all. Of course, the same is true of nearly all his other books which masquerade as geography-history lessons. Iberia. Poland. Space. I’d never read a Michener book before. Alaska seemed as good a place to start as any.
Back in my sweltering apartment, I cranked the air conditioner on high and opened the book to the first of its 1,073 pages. About a billion years ago, long before the continents had separated to define the ancient oceans, or their own outlines had been determined, a small protuberance jutted out from the northwest corner of what would later become North America.
Uh-oh.
I settled myself in for a long summer’s nap. This is the trademark, start-with-prehistory method the author typically employs. It’s tedious, but I suppose he feels it’s necessary.
Michener goes on in a similar geologic vein for many pages, as he describes shifting subterranean plates, tectonic forces and the formation of the first snowballs in Alaska. It is a tough geology lesson; but to his credit, Michener makes it bearable.
It isn’t until 15 pages into Alaska that the first character is introduced. No, it’s not some bone-knife carrying Asian who wandered over on the Bering Strait land bridge. It’s a mastodon—you know, the kind of wooly mammoths that used to help Wilma Flintstone wash dishes. The first humans don’t walk onto the scene until page 39.
I think you see what I’m getting at. Michener takes his time. He is slow—glacially slow—at building the layers of the land’s history.
Reviewing Alaska the book is as daunting a task as reviewing Alaska the state. Oh, the sweep! The panorama! The cast of thousands (including mastodons and whales)!
Unlike Alaska the state, however, Alaska the book is dull. Oh, certainly Michener has all his facts in order and the reams of research—the very towering stacks of dust-collecting manuscripts he must have pored through!—is indeed impressive. This is history writ large, folks. But as I said, it’s also history writ lackluster. If I’m going to invest 1,073 pages and about twice as many minutes in a story about the Union’s largest and wildest state, then I want to come away shaking and dripping perspiration. The only time I broke a sweat was when the air conditioning went on the fritz and I was stuck reading about frigid blizzards in 90-degree Atlanta heat.
Mr. Michener knows his stuff when it comes to the events and people of Alaska. The ancient whale-hunters, the first Russian explorers, the fur traders, the missionaries, the gold prospectors, the salmon fishermen, the wilderness pilots, the World War Two combat troops on the Aleutian islands, the politicians wrangling for statehood in 1959, the environmentalists, the hunting guides, the oil-drilling roughnecks, the dog mushers, the mountain climbers, the urban latte-sipping Anchorage residents—they’re all here, crowded into this pulp-and-ink landscape. Does Michener take liberties with history? Probably. Is he comprehensive? Certainly. Does he keep you awake at nights with his epic narrative? Barely.
I work with a very nice lady who swears up and down that Michener is the greatest writer who ever walked the face of this earth. I would kindly point her in the direction of Messrs. Hemingway, Chekhov and Shakespeare, but the sad hell of it is, she’s read them, too.
“There was no one like James Michener!‿ she gushes.
“That’s true,‿ (muttering under breath) “thank God.‿
When it comes to creating believable characters and, most importantly, describing them in page-turning prose, Michener is downright clumsy. Here, for instance, is how he first describes just one of the thousand characters in Alaska:
Forty-three years old, he had a complete beard and heavy mustache to make his little face look more dignified, a matter which concerned him deeply, for he wished always to impress strangers favorably despite his diminutive stature. His exact height would always be a matter of debate, for his detractors, a numerous band, claimed that he was under five feet, which was preposterous; he referred to himself as five four, which was equally absurd; because he favored built-up shoes, he looked to be about five two. But whatever his height, he often looked a dwarf among men markedly taller than he.
A few paragraphs later, there’s an “action‿ sequence:
As he neared the top of the hill he was hit by a blast of snow borne by a strong wind what came howling over the crest, and for just a moment his little feet lost their hold and he slipped backward, but he quickly caught himself, struggled to the top, and saw below him, as he had know he would, the flickering lights of Deadhorse.
The rest of the book doesn’t vary much from that overwritten prose style. It’s as if Michener scrawled the manuscript with a pen clutched in a fist: large, bold, uninventive strokes.
In all fairness, I will say that I learned a great deal about the Last Frontier before I boarded the plane in Atlanta and traveled to Fairbanks for my first three-year stay in the state. As I flew over the endless mountain ranges—stacked like jagged rocks dusted with powdered sugar snow—I thought to myself, “Well, I certainly know as much about this place as the average high school student who sits through a year of State History.‿
[By the way, when I later moved to Texas for three years, I picked up Michener’s volume by the same name for a literary crash course of that state as well. Upon my return north to Fairbanks four years ago, I toyed with the idea of going through Alaska again as a refresher course, then I thought, “Naw…ain’t gonna be the same fool thrice.‿]
Of course, prior to coming here, I didn’t have a good grasp of what truly makes Alaska the pristine heaven it is. Reading Alaska, I had no way of knowing what it feels like to have the skin on your face stretched tight by minus-30-degree weather, or the way you can practically hear the multi-colored aurora borealis shimmering like folds of rustling silk or how you’ll use every last ounce of your strength when you’re in a wrestling contest with a 45-pound king salmon thrashing on the other end of the fishing line. That’s the Alaska I didn’t get from Alaska.
I suppose you don’t read a James Michener book for its page-turning prospects. You invest your time in his tomes for the education you receive about a particular land and its people—sort of a mini crash-course in science and history. That’s why you can bear up under passages like this:
In the early days the land was not hospitable to settlers. Animals and human beings who came to this promontory had to adjust to profound cold, great distances and meager food supplies, which meant that the men and women who survived would always be a somewhat special breed: adventurous, heroic, willing to contest the great winds, the endless nights, the freezing winters, the cruel and never-ending search for food. They would be people who lived close to the unrelenting land both because they had to and because they reveled in the challenge.
Not unlike reading Michener’s book itself. show less
James A. Michener is a gifted writer who brings history alive through his complex characters and excellent narrative. Using a fictitious task force created in 1983 by the Governor of Texas to define the essentials of Texas history to safeguard the state's heritage, the author begins with the Spanish explorers in the 1500s who offered free land to anyone who would populate this wild, untamed country. Immigrants from Germany, Ireland, England, and Scotland seeking a better life came in droves show more only to be savagely murdered by the Comanches—but they kept coming. By capturing the wild cattle that occupied the plains, they started the first long-horn cattle ranches that still exist today. The story moves on to the war with Mexico and the formation of the famous Texas Rangers in the early 1800s. Michener combines the facts with the dust, sweat, and blood it took to create this iconic state in the U.S.. I don't know why historians can't write school history books this way. It's entertaining and informative. I can't wait to tackle volume two. show less
How do you write a historical fiction novel about the Holy Land that is fair to the diverse and often clashing histories of Jews, Christian, Muslims and atheists alike? Perhaps it takes Michener's historical style of leaping forward by decades or centuries between chapters, presenting sequential scenes that relate to one another in place and maybe in ancestry but never overlapping in time. It's still an uneven reading experience in some transitions (e.g. first a rationalizing of the basis show more for religion, then in the next chapter God's voice issuing from a bush) but acceptable in its recognition of these multiple faiths' multiple truths.
Michener is utterly fearless with his material, plunging into the backgrounds and history of one religion after another, but this is predominately the story of the Jewish people. As a consequence, you might say, the atmosphere leans toward oppressive tragedy. Terrible, horrifying things happen to good people over and over, no matter what century it is or what god they worship. If I'd not read a lot of Michener already I'd suspect him of overindulging in this aspect, but even with his detailed asides about Jewish persecutions in Spain, Germany, etc. I believe he is only bearing witness to history that deserves to be highlighted. It does all link back to his story, demonstrating the tenaciousness with which Judaism has clung to its existence.
I love the concept behind the framing story, an archeological dig that unearths all of the layers before touring us through them from bottom up. It is the perfect choice for a massive journey-through-the-ages tome spanning literally thousands of years. Unfortunately, the framing story also contains the novel's worst feature. The attitude towards women in the "present day" (1960s) episodes will make your toes curl. It's only made palatable when viewed as just another layer of history. Sixty years and counting later, what was first-hand sentiment for the author has become only sediment.
For this novel's scope, the depth of research behind it (he must have had sensitivity readers before that was a thing), effort at fairness (I can't find anyone on the Internet up in arms about this novel, which is kind of surprising), its careful analysis of opposing viewpoints both within and between faiths, the heart-rending drama that rivals Game of Thrones (I imagine Michener saying, "you thought that last chapter was cruel, wait'll you read this episode"), the historical analysis ... warts, wars and all, it gets a perfect score from me. show less
Michener is utterly fearless with his material, plunging into the backgrounds and history of one religion after another, but this is predominately the story of the Jewish people. As a consequence, you might say, the atmosphere leans toward oppressive tragedy. Terrible, horrifying things happen to good people over and over, no matter what century it is or what god they worship. If I'd not read a lot of Michener already I'd suspect him of overindulging in this aspect, but even with his detailed asides about Jewish persecutions in Spain, Germany, etc. I believe he is only bearing witness to history that deserves to be highlighted. It does all link back to his story, demonstrating the tenaciousness with which Judaism has clung to its existence.
I love the concept behind the framing story, an archeological dig that unearths all of the layers before touring us through them from bottom up. It is the perfect choice for a massive journey-through-the-ages tome spanning literally thousands of years. Unfortunately, the framing story also contains the novel's worst feature. The attitude towards women in the "present day" (1960s) episodes will make your toes curl. It's only made palatable when viewed as just another layer of history. Sixty years and counting later, what was first-hand sentiment for the author has become only sediment.
For this novel's scope, the depth of research behind it (he must have had sensitivity readers before that was a thing), effort at fairness (I can't find anyone on the Internet up in arms about this novel, which is kind of surprising), its careful analysis of opposing viewpoints both within and between faiths, the heart-rending drama that rivals Game of Thrones (I imagine Michener saying, "you thought that last chapter was cruel, wait'll you read this episode"), the historical analysis ... warts, wars and all, it gets a perfect score from me. show less
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