James A. Michener

James Albert Michener ( or ; February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an American writer. He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history. Many of his works were bestsellers and were chosen by the Book of the Month Club. He was also known for the meticulous research that went into his books.

Michener's books include his first book, Tales of the South Pacific, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948; Hawaii; The Drifters; Centennial; The Source; The Fires of Spring; Chesapeake; Caribbean; Caravans; Alaska; Texas; Space; Poland; and The Bridges at Toko-ri. His non-fiction works include Iberia, about his travels in Spain and Portugal; his memoir, The World Is My Home; and Sports in America. Return to Paradise combines fictional short stories with Michener's factual descriptions of the Pacific areas where they take place.

Early life and education Michener was born in Doylestown, Pennsylvania, on February 3, 1907. He later wrote that he did not know who his biological parents were, or exactly when or where he was born.

Michener graduated from Doylestown High School in 1925. He attended Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, where he played college basketball and was a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. After graduating summa cum laude in 1929 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and history, he traveled and studied in Scotland at the University of St Andrews in the medieval town of St. Andrews, Fife, on the coast of the North Sea for two years.

Michener talks about hoboing, the practice of riding freight trains for free, during the Great Depression, as mentioned in the 1998 Great Depression documentary on the History Channel.

Michener took a job as a high school English teacher at The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania. From 1933 to 1936, he taught English at George School in Newtown, Pennsylvania. He attended Colorado State Teachers College, later renamed the University of Northern Colorado, in Greeley, Colorado, where he earned a Master of Arts degree in education.

In 1939, Michener accepted a position as a guest lecturer at Harvard University, where he worked for a year. He left to join Macmillan Publishers as their social studies education editor. He traveled throughout the South Pacific Ocean on various assignments which he gained because his base commanders mistakenly thought his father was Admiral Marc Mitscher. His experiences during these travels inspired the stories published in his breakout work Tales of the South Pacific. Michener did lend his name to a different television series, Adventures in Paradise, in 1959, starring Gardner McKay as Captain Adam Troy in the sailing ship Tiki III.

Michener was a popular writer during his lifetime; his novels sold an estimated 75 million copies worldwide. His novel Hawaii (1959), well-timed on its publication when Hawaii became the 50th state, was based on extensive research. He used this approach for nearly all of his subsequent novels, which were based on detailed historical, cultural, and even geological research. Centennial (1974), which documented several generations of families in the Rocky Mountains of the American West, was adapted as a popular 12-part television miniseries of the same name and aired on the National Broadcasting Company (NBC television network) from October 1978 through February 1979.

In the mid-1970s, Michener was a contributor to the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature.

In 1996, State House Press published James A. Michener: A Bibliography, compiled by David A. Groseclose. Its more than 2,500 entries from 1923 to 1995 include magazine articles, forewords, and other works.

Several of his novels run more than 1,000 pages. The author states in My Lost Mexico (1992) that at times he would spend 12 to 15 hours per day at his typewriter for weeks on end, and that he used so much paper, his filing system had trouble keeping up.

Personal life Michener was married three times. In 1935, he married Patti Koon. In 1948, they divorced, and the same year Michener married his second wife, Vange Nord.

Political career

In the 1960 presidential election, Michener was chairman of the Bucks County, Pennsylvania committee to elect Democrat John F. Kennedy as the 35th President. In 1962, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic Party candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, a decision he later considered a misstep. He lost to the incumbent Republican congressman, Willard S. Curtin, in Pennsylvania's 6th Congressional District by a 55% to 45% margin. "My mistake was to run in 1962 as a Democratic candidate for Congress. [My wife] kept saying, 'Don't do it, don't do it.' I lost and went back to writing books."

In 1968, Michener served as campaign manager for the U.S. Senator Joseph S. Clark of Pennsylvania, who was running for reelection to a third term. Clark ultimately lost the race to Richard Schweiker, a moderate Republican. Michener later served as Secretary for the 1967–1968 Pennsylvania Constitutional Convention. and more than $37 million to University of Texas at Austin. By 1992, his gifts made him UT Austin's largest single donor to that time. Over the years, Mari Michener played a major role in helping direct his donations.

Death In October 1997, suffering from terminal kidney disease, Michener opted to end his daily dialysis treatment that had kept him alive for four years. He said he had accomplished what he wanted and did not want further physical complications. On October 16, 1997, he died of kidney failure, at age 90. Michener was cremated, and his ashes were placed next to those of his wife at Austin Memorial Park Cemetery in Austin, Texas. Michener is honored by a memorial headstone at the Texas State Cemetery in Austin.

Bequests Michener left most of his estate and book copyrights to Swarthmore College, where he earned his bachelor's degree. He had donated his papers to the University of Northern Colorado, where he earned his master's degree. In 1980, Michener threw out the first pitch of Game Two of the National League Championship between the Philadelphia Phillies and the Houston Astros. In 1981, Michener was awarded the St. Louis Literary Award from the Saint Louis University Library Associates in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1993, the U.S. Navy Memorial Foundation awarded Michener its "Lone Sailor Award" for his naval war service and his literary achievements. In 1994, Michener endorsed the naming as "Michener's" the restaurant at Iririki Island Resort, Port Vila, Vanuatu. He wrote:

Many of the fondest memories of my travels stem back to my years of military service in the New Hebrides – (now Vanuatu) – during the Pacific War years of the early 1940s...While those beautiful islands have changed much with progress in the ensuing years, I know from subsequent visits that the friendliness of the peoples, their infectious smiles and their open-heartedness will remain forever one of life's treasures.

Posthumous On May 12, 2008, the United States Postal Service honored him with a 59¢ Distinguished Americans series postage stamp. The Library at The University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, Colorado, his alma mater, is named "The James Michener Library" in his honor. On the mezzanine, there is a small display of his effects, including one of his typewriters. In 1998, the Raffles Hotel in Singapore named one of their suites after the author, in memory of his patronage and affection for the hotel. Michener first stayed at the Singapore hotel in 1949 after World War II. In a 1987 interview, he said it was a luxury for him, a young man, to stay at the Raffles Hotel then, and that he had the time of his life. He returned on a later trip. The suite was officially christened by Steven J. Green, Ambassador of United States to Singapore. The society sponsors a variety of activities and publishes an electronic internet newsletter. Annual meetings of members are held at locations closely associated with Michener's life. This coming of age tale follows orphan David Harper as he navigates life and love in America. Eight essays, each describing a South Pacific Island, and followed by a short story about that island. This short novel chronicles the lives of young American servicemen fighting in the Korean War. Set during the early 1950s, it tells the story of Major Gruver, a soldier stationed in Japan, who falls in love with Hana-Ogi, a Japanese woman. The novel follows their cross-cultural Japanese romance and illuminates the racism of the post-World War II time period. This historical novel spans centuries of Hawaiian history, exploring the myriad influences that have shaped the people and landscapes of the state. Framed through the eyes of an American diplomat looking for an American woman married to an Afghan engineer, this novel explores the cultural shifts in post World War II Afghanistan. In The Source, Michener recounts the origins and rise of Judaism starting with early Hebrews and carrying the reader all the way through to the modern Arab-Israeli conflict. The Drifters examines the lives of young travelers as they search for meaning in the Vietnam war era. Centennial, one of Michener's most critically acclaimed novels, tells the story of Colorado, the Centennial State, from its geologic origins up to the 1976 Bicentennial. This novel recounts the history of a Maryland coastal community in Michener's trademark style. An excerpt from his larger novel, Chesapeake, which was published by Random House the same year. From the prehistoric bushmen to British colonists, Michener traces the history of South Africa from its origins to the Second Boer War. The lives of scientists, astronauts, and politicians intertwine in this fictional account of the United States Space program. Inspired by his travels in Poland, this Michener novel examines Polish history and culture from the 1200s up until the 1980s. In this book, which spans over 400 years, Michener chronicles the origins, history and culture of Texas. Legacy presents a fictionalized account of the Iran–Contra scandal through the eyes of a conflicted US lieutenant colonel. This novel traces the background of Alaska from prehistory, through the gold rush, and into World War II. This novel explores the history of the Caribbean, telling of the arrival of Columbus, the days of the buccaneers, the rise of the Jamaican sugar plantations, and moves up to the problems of the present day. Journey, based on a chapter from Alaska, follows the trials and tribulations of a British mining expedition during the Klondike Gold Rush. The Novel tells the story of a book, from its creation to publication, through the intersecting narratives of a writer, editor, reader, and critic. An American journalist, Norman Clay, arrives in Mexico not only to report on a duel between two celebrated matadors but to learn more about his family's past. Recessional, Michener's final novel, presents the challenges faced by a doctor caring for an unusual patient in a Florida hospice facility. Told through the eyes of an American writer, Miracle in Seville explores bullfighting culture in Spain. Set in Florida, Matecumbe is a small, character-driven story detailing the relationship of a mother and daughter, both divorced and living parallel lives.

Books—non-fiction

Adaptations