James A. Michener
Overview
James Albert Michener was an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which were sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating historical facts into the stories. Michener was known for the meticulous research behind his work.

Michener's major books include Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific
Tales of the South Pacific is a Pulitzer Prize-winning book, which is a collection of sequentially related short stories about World War II, written by James A. Michener in 1946 and published in 1947...

 (for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
Pulitzer Prize for Fiction
The Pulitzer Prize for Fiction has been awarded for distinguished fiction by an American author, preferably dealing with American life. It originated as the Pulitzer Prize for the Novel, which was awarded between 1918 and 1947.-1910s:...

 in 1948), Hawaii
Hawaii (novel)
Hawaii is a novel by James Michener published in 1959. Written in episodic format like many of Michener's works, the book narrates the story of the original Hawaiians who sailed to the islands from Bora Bora, the early American missionaries and merchants, and the Chinese and Japanese immigrants who...

, The Drifters
The Drifters (novel)
The Drifters is a novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James Michener, published in 1971 by Random House. The novel follows six young characters from diverse backgrounds and various countries as their paths meet and they travel together through parts of Spain, Portugal, Morocco and Mozambique...

, Centennial
Centennial (novel)
Centennial is a novel by American author James A. Michener, published in 1974.Centennial traces the history of the plains of northeast Colorado from prehistory until the early 1970s. Geographic details about the fictional town of Centennial and its surroundings indicate that the region is in...

, The Source
The Source (novel)
The Source is a historical novel by James A. Michener, first published in 1965. It is a survey of the history of the Jewish people and the land of Israel from pre-monotheistic days to the birth of the modern State of Israel...

, The Fires of Spring
The Fires of Spring
The Fires of Spring is the second novel published by American author James A. Michener. Usually known for his multi-generational epics of historical fiction, The Fires of Spring was written as a partially autobiographical bildungsroman in which Michener's proxy, young orphan David Harper,...

, Chesapeake
Chesapeake (novel)
Chesapeake is a novel by James A. Michener, published by Random House in 1978. The story deals with several families living in the Chesapeake Bay area, from 1583 to 1978.-Plot summary:...

, Caribbean, Caravans
Caravans (novel)
Caravans, a novel by James A. Michener, was published in 1963.The story is set in Afghanistan immediately following World War II. The protagonist, Mark Miller, is stationed in Kabul at the American embassy and is given the assignment of an investigation to find a young woman, Ellen Jaspar, also...

, Alaska
Alaska (novel)
Alaska is a historical novel by James A. Michener. Like other Michener titles, Alaska spans a considerable amount of time.-Plot introduction:...

, Texas
Texas (novel)
Texas is a novel by James A. Michener based on the history of the Lone Star State. Characters include real and fictional characters, explorers , Spanish and German Texan settlers, ranchers, oil men, aristocrats, Chicanos, and others, all based on extensive historical research.Although Michener...

, and Poland
Poland (novel)
Poland is a historical novel written by James A. Michener and published in 1983 detailing the times and tribulations of three Polish families across eight centuries, ending in the then-present day .-Overview:Michener was hired by a television company to travel to a foreign country to shoot a...

.
Quotations

In 1948 I addressed some students at Washington and Lee University, and in the question-answer period one young man observed with asperity, "But it's easy for you to write. You've traveled."

Return to Paradise (1951) First lines

I was a Navy officer writing about Navy problems and I simply stole this lovely Army nurse and popped her into a Navy uniform, where she has done very well for herself.

On a heroine in Tales of the South Pacific (1947) in Commercial Appeal (31 December 1951)

A group of two dozen nurses completely surrounded by 100,000 unattached American men.

On the heroines of Tales of the South Pacific (1947) in Commercial Appeal (31 December 1951)

On a bleak wintry morning some years ago I was summoned to the office of our naval attache at the American embassy in Kabul.

Caravans (novel)|Caravans (1963) First lines

On Tuesday the freighter steamed through the Straits of Gibraltar and for five days plowed eastward through the Mediterranean, past islands and peninsulas rich in history, so that on Saturday night the steward advised Dr. Cullinane, "If you wish an early sight of the Holy Land you must be up at dawn."

The Source (novel)|The Source (1965) First lines

Youth is truth.

The Drifters (novel)|The Drifters (1971) First lines

Only another writer, someone who had worked his heart out on a good book which sold three thousand copies, could appreciate the thrill that overcame me one April morning in 1973 when Dean Rivers of our small college in Georgia appeared at my classroom door.

Centennial (novel)|Centennial (1974) First lines

For some time now they had been suspicious of him.

Chesapeake (novel)|Chesapeake (1978) First lines

Character consists of what you do on the third and fourth tries.

Chesapeake (1978)

It was the silent time before dawn, along the shores of what had been one of the most beautiful lakes in southern Africa.

The Covenant (novel)|The Covenant (1980) First lines

 
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