He authored more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the pulitzer prizewinning tales of the south pacific, the bestselling novels the source, hawaii, alaska, chesapeake, centennial, texas, caribbean, and caravans, and the memoir the world is my home. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of. Michener served on the advisory council to nasa and the. The first edition of the novel was published in january 1st 1980, and was written by james a. The bestselling book was adapted into the popular musical and film, south pacific.
It is the center of what may be very legitimate plagiarism claims by micheners researcher, errol uys. Michener 19071997 was an american author of historical fiction and nonfiction. The authors visit to south africa with commentary on the country and its influences on his book. With 35 books in print in 16 languages, michener is one of the bestselling authors of all time, pied. Id read many of his other books, but even then his story of south africa had stood out as particularly gripping. It tells the story of that land from the early settlements by the dutch, through the expansion of it by english immigrants and others, to the south africa of the apartheid age, shortly before it was eliminated. Africa has banned the book, the nonwhite side of things never becomes humanly specific. Best known for his novels, he wrote epic and detailed works classified as fictional documentaries. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents. The dramatic presentation of actual and fictional characters in a background of historical events is a narrative technique of which mr. Silverword, texas bracken, volume 4, 1986 by james a. I plotted the book with michener, i did the major research, and i wrote thousands of words for key sections of the novel. Many many years ago, when i still had the stamina to read books of a thousand and more pages, and way before id ever shed any thought to living in south africa one day, i read the covenant by james a. James michener, american novelist and shortstory writer who, perhaps more than any other single author, made foreign environments accessible to americans through fiction.
Michener, as he is popularly known as, is a well known novelist, philanthropist and story writer from pennsylvania, united states. Michener books list, this particular one comes along with the exciting stories. Albert michener, born around 1907, won the pulitzer prize for his first fiction, tales of the south pacific. Michener s books in order of when they were first released.
Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. Africa has banned the book, the nonwhite side of things never becomes. James albert michener 3 february 1907 16 october 1997 was an american author of more than 40 titles, the majority of which are novels of sweeping sagas, covering the lives of many generations in a particular geographic locale and incorporating historical facts. It tells the story of that land from the early settlements by the dutch, through the expansion of it by english. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents, who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. Michener writes largely from the point of view of the afrikaners, descendants of dutch settlers and french huguenot immigrants who traveled to south africa to practice freedom of worship in the calvinist tradition, and other european groups such as the germans, all of whom were absorbed by the afrikaansspeaking dutch reformed church. Africa itself rumor has it, maliciously no doubt, that james micheners. And one somehow ends this huge volume with little feel for historical continuity or for the physical setting a surprising lapse from michener. James was born on february 3, 1907 in new york, united states. Michener had numerous bestsellers and works selected for book of the month club, and was known for his meticulous research behind the books. Michener was one of the worlds most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the pulitzer prizewinning tales of the south pacific, the bestselling novels the source, hawaii, alaska, chesapeake, centennial, texas, caribbean, and caravans, and the memoir the world is my home. A prodigious author of prodigiously long novels hawaii, centennial, the source micheners covenant is yet another blockbuster a near 900page novel on south africa that encompasses.
He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were lengthy, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history. The story is all about the epic story of south africa and its adventure that is recorded in the list of books by james a. More information about this seller contact this seller 24. Michener became a published author in 1948 with the short story collection tales of the south pacific. The main setting of this extraordinary novel is the stunnng landscape of south africa, but vivid episodes also take place in indonesia, france, holland and england. I worked with michener for two years from 1978 to 1980, a collaboration that produced the covenant. The dullest, if timeliest, history lesson yet from michener junior collegefollowing three polish clans noble, pettynoble, peasant from 1204 a. Michener has 147 books on goodreads with 497604 ratings. He is wellknown for the amount of research that went into his work in addition to the length of his novels 900 pages was a short novel for him. Micheners books include tales of the south pacific for which he won the pulitzer prize for fiction in 1948, hawaii, the drifter. Michener s masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an empire out of a vast wilderness. James a michener biography james albert michener february 3, 1907 october 16, 1997 was an american author of more than 40 books, most of which were fictional, lengthy family sagas covering the lives of many generations in particular geographic locales and incorporating solid history.
Micheners numerous bestselling novels also included the. His first novel was the fires of spring, which was published in 1949. Dec 26, 2015 james michener one of the greatest authors ever. I was surprised to read the impressive list of james a micheners other titles having read the source i was left wondering how can one man write with such authority and passion about more than a single subject i assumed that this book alone must surely represent a lifes work it is so detailed an extremely dense 900 pages and. Heavy book so may require little additional postage depending on destination. James a michener books biography and list of works. The main characters of this southern africa, south africa story are. As i mentioned earlier, the sweeping epic south african historical novel reaches from,000 bce to the 1970s. James a michener biography and list of works james a michener books.
Free download or read online the covenant pdf epub book. So begins millennium, or might have done, had james michener decided to seize the moment and write a history of the past 20 centuries in the form of a popular novel of, say, 1,400 pages. While centennial was the only one of the four michener novels i read that got a television adaptation, the covenant has a legacy of its own. From the javaborn van doorn family tree springs two great branches. The saga begins with a talky 1981 confrontation, in the village of bukowo on the vistula, between farmunion leader janko buk and. In any case, michener is using his familiar approach here. It tells the story of that land from the early settlements by the dutch, through the expansion of it by english immigrants and others, to the southafrica of the apartheid age, shortly before it was eliminated. James michener, in full james albert michener, born february 3, 1907. Michener 19071997 was one of the worlds most popular writers. An emotionally and intellectually appealing book, rich in detail and magnificent in scope. Micheners masterly chronicle of south africa is an epic tale of adventurers, scoundrels, and ministers, the best and worst of two continents who carve an. The covenant is a historical novel by american author james a. See more ideas about historical fiction, books and author. The novel is set in south africa, home to five distinct populations.
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