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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 wit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Doylestown, Pennsylvania
Doylestown is a borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Bucks County, Pennsylvania, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the borough population was 8,300. Doylestown is located northwest of Trenton, New Jersey, Trenton, north of Center City, Philadelphia, Center City Philadelphia, and southeast of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown. It is part of the Delaware Valley, also known as the Philadelphia metropolitan area. History Like most of eastern Pennsylvania, present-day Doylestown was inhabited by the Lenape Indian tribe prior to European settlement of the region. 18th century In March 1745, William Doyle, an Irish people, Irish settler, obtained a license to build a tavern, then known as :File:History of Doylestown, old and new - from its settlement to the close of the nineteenth century, 1745-1900 (1904) (14801977513).jpg, William Doyle's Tavern, on what is now the northwest corner of Dyers Road and Coryell's Ferry Ro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Master Of Arts
A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have typically studied subjects within the scope of the humanities and social sciences, such as history, literature, languages, linguistics, public administration, political science, communication studies, law or diplomacy; however, different universities have different conventions and may also offer the degree for fields typically considered within the natural sciences and mathematics. The degree can be conferred in respect of completing courses and passing examinations, research, or a combination of the two. The degree of Master of Arts traces its origins to the teaching license or of the University of Paris, designed to produce "masters" who were graduate teachers of their subjects. Europe Czech Republic and Slovakia Like all EU membe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Space (Michener Novel)
''Space'' is a novel by James A. Michener published in 1982. It is a fictionalized history of the United States space program, with a particular emphasis on human spaceflight. Michener writes in a semi-documentary style. The topics explored in the novel include naval warfare in the Pacific Ocean, air combat in the Korean War (something Michener had already explored in '' The Bridges at Toko-Ri''), test pilot life at ' Pax River', astronaut selection and training, the role of the media in promoting the space program as a national achievement, and the development of the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft, the rise of the military-industrial complex and the evolution of NACA into NASA. Plot summary The story begins in 1944 and covers more than 30 years in the lives of four men and their families: Dieter Kolff, a German rocket engineer who worked for the Nazis; Norman Grant, a World War II hero turned U.S. Senator from the fictional Midwestern state of Fremont; Stanley Mott, an aeron ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texas (novel)
''Texas'' is a 1985 novel by American writer James A. Michener (1907–1997), based on the history of Texas. Characters include real and fictional characters spanning hundreds of years, such as explorers, Spanish colonists, American immigrants, German Texan settlers, ranchers, oil men, aristocrats, Chicanos, and others, all based on extensive historical research. Background Michener did extensive research on the novel in Texas, receiving much support from the state government. Governor Bill Clements offered him access to numerous state archives and research staff at the University of Texas at Austin. Michener rented 3506 Mt. Bonnell Road for $1 per year to write the manuscript. At 1,076 pages, it was the longest Michener novel published by Random House. Given the success of his previous novels, the company did a first printing of 750,000 copies, 'the largest in the company's history'. Chapters The book is divided into an introduction and 14 subsequent chapters: The Governor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alaska (novel)
''Alaska'' is a 1988 historical novel by James A. Michener. Like other Michener titles, ''Alaska'' spans a considerable amount of time, traced through the gradual interlinking of several families. Plot introduction ''Alaska'' is 868 pages long. Along with the reading, Michener provides a table of contents, a list of acknowledgements, and a ''Fact and Fiction'' section. The third item offers the reader an insight into what occurred in real life and what the author invented. Plot summary Chapter I: The Clashing Terranes A sweeping description of the formation of the North American continent. The reader follows the development of the Alaskan terrain over millennia. The city of Los Angeles is now some twenty-four hundred miles south of central Alaska, and since it is moving slowly northward as the San Andreas Fault slides irresistibly along, the city is destined eventually to become part of Alaska. If the movement is two inches a year, which it often is, Los Angeles can be expect ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 Jasper, also from the United States, who has disappeared after her marriage to an Afghan national thirteen months previously. During his journey through Afghanistan, Miller comes to a deeper understanding of the complexities and nuances of contemporary Afghan life. His travels also reveal the similarities of human nature across cultural and social boundaries. The novel was the basis of a 1978 film with the same title starring Anthony Quinn and Jennifer O'Neill Jennifer O'Neill (born February 20, 1948) is a Brazilian-born American author, model, and former actress. Born in Brazil, and moving to the United States as an infant, she first came to prominence as a teenaged model (person), model, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caribbean (novel)
''Caribbean'' (1989) is a historical novel written by James A. Michener, which describes and explores the history of the Caribbean region from the pre-Columbian period of the native Arawak tribes until about 1990. The author mixes fact and fiction, as he notes in the foreword. For example, the story about the island of All Saints is purely fictional, though the book's map shows it as an island in the location of Saint Lucia.The island of All Saints bears almost identical history to that of St Lucia and has many landmarks in common, with similar names. In other examples, Michener has taken well-known sites and placed them on the Atlantic side of "All Saints' instead of the Caribbean. In researching the book, Michener traveled the Caribbean for three years and consulted over 400 books. Chapter Summary #A Hedge of Croton: the invasion of the Caribs in the Arawak homelands. #Death of Greatness: the classic Mayan Period. #Christopher Columbus in Hispaniola: the trial of Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chesapeake (novel)
''Chesapeake'' is a novel by James A. Michener, published by Random House in 1978 in literature, 1978. The story deals with several families living in the Chesapeake Bay area around Maryland from 1583 to 1978. Plot summary The story-line, like much of Michener's work, depicts a number of characters within family groups over a long time period, richly illustrating the history of the area through these families' timelines. It starts in 1583 with indigenous peoples of the Americas, American Indian tribes warring, moves with English settlers through the 17th century (land appropriation, tobacco farming, indentured servitude, religious persecution, etc.), slavery, Golden Age of Piracy, pirate attacks, the American Revolution and the American Civil War, Civil War, Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Emancipation and attempted Cultural assimilation, assimilation, to the final major event being the Watergate scandal of 1972-1974. The last voyage, a funeral, is in 197 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fires Of Spring
''The Fires of Spring'' (1949) is the second book and first 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, searches for meaning and romance in pre-World War II Pennsylvania. Published in the wake of the critical acclaim Michener received for ''Tales of the South Pacific'', ''The Fires of Spring'' was received poorly by critics and viewed as far more amateurish than his previous book. In reflecting on ''The Fires of Spring'' in his memoir '' The World Is My Home'', Michener wrote of its importance: I was willing to write ''The Fires of Spring'' out of order because I felt that it was a book that had to be written even though I was in my forties and it was the kind of book normally written when one is in one’s twenties or thirties. I have never regretted that decision ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Source (novel)
''The Source'' is a historical novel by James A. Michener published in 1965. It is a survey of the history of the Jewish people and the land of Israel from pre-monotheistic days through the birth of the modern State of Israel and up until 1964. ''The Source'' uses, for its central device, a fictional '' tell'' (mound/hill) in northern Israel called "Makor" (, "source"). Prosaically, the name comes from a freshwater well just north of Makor, but symbolically it stands for much more, historically and spiritually. Unlike most Michener novels, this book is not in strict chronological order. A parallel frame story set in Israel in the 1960s supports the historical timeline. Archaeologists digging at the ''tell'' at Makor uncover artifacts from each layer, which then serve as the basis for a chapter exploring the lives of the people involved with that artifact. The book follows the story of the Family of Ur from a Stone Age family whose wife begins to believe that there is a superna ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Centennial (novel)
''Centennial'' is a novel by American author James A. Michener, published in 1974. It traces the history of the plains of north-east Colorado from prehistory until the mid-1970s. Geographic details about the fictional town of Centennial and its surroundings indicate that the region is in modern Weld County. ''Centennial'' was made into a popular twelve-part television miniseries, also titled ''Centennial'', that was broadcast on NBC from October 1978 through February 1979 and was filmed in several parts of Colorado. NBC Universal released a six volume DVD set in 2008. Overview Michener lived in Greeley during the late 1930s and was familiar with the area. He used a variety of source material for his fictional town taken from various areas in eastern Colorado, and Centennial is not meant to represent a single settlement. His description of the town's location places it at the junction of the South Platte River and the Cache la Poudre River. This is roughly halfway between ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Drifters (novel)
''The Drifters'' is a novel by Pulitzer Prize-winning author James A. 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. The story is told from the perspective of the narrator, George Fairbanks, who is an investment analyst for the fictional company World Mutual Bank in Switzerland. Mr. Fairbanks is connected with nearly every character in some way, and they all seem to open up to him throughout the novel in one way or another. Plot summary Chapter I: Joe In the first chapter, Joe is introduced as a disenfranchised twenty-year-old youth who is enrolled at the University of California during the Vietnam War. After Joe realizes that with his grades he is going to get drafted, he hitchhikes to Yale University, where he gets the name of a professor who may be able to get him across the border into Cana ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
