James Albert Michener - (1907-1997)
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I. Biography James Albert Michener was born on February 3, 1907 in Doylestown, Pennsylvania. He grew up an orphan, who was later adopted by Mabel Michener. Mabel Michener
was a poor widow and rumors had it that she was James Michener's biological mother. That report was never proven true. James Michener was raised as a Quaker in Bucks County. Michener lived in a small house on East
Court Street. His mother did not have very much money. As a little boy, Michener could never go sledding with his friends, or ride his bike on a hot summer day, nor could he play
catch with them, without a baseball glove. These obstacles prevented Michener from having an exciting childhood because his mother could not afford to purchase these gifts
for her son. Michener tried to run away from his mother in his teen years but was unsuccessful. During Michener's high school years, he played basketball and baseball for Doylestown
High School. He helped lead the team to a championship in his senior year in 1925. Michener graduated from Doylestown
High School in 1925 and earned a scholarship to Swarthmore College. After graduating from Swarthmore with a B.A. in English and History, Michener went on to teach English at
the Hill School in Pottstown. Returning to the United States in 1933 after traveling in Europe James Michener accepted a
job as an English teacher at George School. Michener earned his master's degree while teaching at the George School, where the University of Northern Colorado exists today.
Michener taught social studies there for three years after receiving his masters. Michener went on to attend nine different universities, including Harvard School of Education and
the University of Virginia, all at public expense. Michener accepted a life-changing job in 1940 as the social studies editor for a major publishing company named MacMillan
Publishing Company. He was editor for nine years. As editor, James Michener received a large sum of money that helped him build his
success as a writer. In 1947, James Michener published his first book when he was 40 years old. It was titled Tales of the South Pacific. Two years later, Michener wrote The Fires of Spring
. In 1951, Michener published a series of essay that he titled Return to Paradise. Michener was also involved in other activities besides his writing. He participated in many
political issues and helped campaign for well-known political candidates such as John F. Kennedy. Michener campaigned for John F. Kennedy in the 1960 elections. He also
campaigned for Congress to represent Pennsylvania in 1962. He lost. President Gerald Ford awarded James Michener the Medal of Freedom for his generous donations of money
to universities and art museums. It has been estimated that Michener donated over $100 million dollars to universities, museums, libraries, and other charitable causes. Michener
not only loved writing he loved art. In honor of Michener's passion for art, there is an art museum named after him in his hometown of Doylestown, Pennsylvania.
James Michener wrote about all the places that he visited. He only wrote about the places that had an emotional impact on him. He traveled the world taking notes. He learned
everything he could about the people from different cultures. Michener tells the stories of many cultures, people's lives and experiences, and major historical events around the
world. James Michener was considered a historical fiction writer. He wrote historical events using his own fictional characters to tell the story. James Michener wrote over 40
books. James Michener passed away at the age of 90 in his Austin, Texas home on Thursday October 16, 1997. He had fought a tough battle with kidney disease. II. Literary Works Tales of the South Pacific
describes what life was like for men in the South Pacific during World War II. Michener describes the emotions, frustrations, and anxiety of the soldiers.
He knew how the soldiers felt because he was one of them. Michener was drafted into World War II. He spent hours listening to fellow soldiers' stories and wrote them down
anywhere he could. He typed them out on a typewriter, he wrote on the back of letters, old envelopes, and official Navy correspondence. This book received favorable reviews and
won the Pulitzer Prize in 1948. Oscar Hammerstein II and Richard Rodgers made the book into a hit Broadway musical show titled "South Pacific". The Fires of Spring
takes the reader through the childhood and developmental stages to adulthood of a fictional character named David Harper. His environment in an unwealthy
household, his educational background, his adventures as an adolescent, his job and experiences with love at a young age, is primarily based on the childhood in Bucks County and life of James Michener. Hawaii
is a book of a poetic representation of how the geological procedure in which the island was created. Michener then writes about the mixed cultural people that live in Hawaii. Centennial
is about a Colorado town called Centennial. The characters of the story symbolize the historical development of Colorado and explain the reason why Colorado
was nicknamed the Centennial State when it was brought into the Union during the Centennial year of the Republic. Texas includes the most important events of Texas's history. Michener describes the
struggle for freedom from Mexico and the combats of the Alamo. The fictional characters of the story are Goliad and San Jacinto who represent the migrations of the Spaniards,
Englishmen and Americans to the region what is now Texas. Michener also talks about the economic status of Texas at that time. Journey
tells the story of four Englishmen and how they travel to the Klondike gold fever of 1897. Michener describes the adventures of the men through the most difficult routes of
Canada to the gold fields. Their misguided patriotism leads the group through British soil, instead of taking the easier route on American land. Their journey leads to consequences,
which cause problems between the group. Caribbean is one of Michener's longer books. He examines Ancient Caribbean Indian civilization that dealt with slavery, power, politics, and social economic status. He
describes the arrival of Columbus and the Spanish take over. Michener then deals with the development of sugar plantations by the Jamaican's, the slavery on the island of Haiti, and
the final freedom of the slaves of the islands in that region of the world. He then leads up to the problems facing the Caribbean today. IV. Selected Works by James Michener
Tales of the South Pacific (1947) V. Other Useful Websites on James A. Michener Steve Wartenberg, a reporter for Intelligencer Record, spent three days with James
Michener in 1996. His interview reports can be found at the following website:
The Fires of Spring (1949)
Return to Paradise (1951)
The Bridges of Toko-ri (1953)
Hawaii (1959)
Report of the County Chairman (1961)
Centennial (1974)
Sports in America (1976)
Chesapeake (1978)
Journey (1988)
Caribbean (1989)
The Novel (1991)
Additional information about James Michener can be obtained at:
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~mmaynard/Michener/index.html
If you would like to find more information about James Michener's life and his published works you can contact the James Michener Art Museum at (215) 340-9800. You can also
send your questions and comments to the museum at this address: The James A Michener Art Museum Visit The James A Michener Art museum at the following website:
138 S. Pine St.
Doylestown, Pa 18901
VI. Sources Groseclose, David. "Works." James A. Michener, a Bibliography. State House Press,
1996. Tales of the storyteller. Online. Internet. 2 May 2000
James A. Michener Art Museum. 4 May 2000
http://www.michenerartmuseum.org
James A. Michener: Literary Works. Online. Internet. 2 May 2000
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~mmaynard/Michener/caribb.htm
Jedele, Kevin, Jess Maass, and Marcus Stavchansky. "James A Michener 1907-1997." U of Texas. 3 May 2000
http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/~mmaynard/Michener/index.html
McConnellogue, Ken. "James Michener in Greeley." James A Michener:Special Collection. Online. Internet. 4 May 2000
http://library.unco.edu/michener/Biog.htm
Michener, James A., David Groseclose, Mary L. Linscome, Sandy Dion, Gary M. Pitkin and Ken McConnellogue. "James A. Michener: Special Collection" University of
Northern Colorado Libraries. May 2000
Michener, James A. Home page. 3 May 2000
http://www.jamesmichener.com
Wartenberg, Steve. "South Pacific." Tales of the storyteller. Online.Internet. 2 May 2000http://www.jamesmichener.com/michener/michst9.htm
Wartenberg, Steve. "The author became one of history's greatest philanthropists." Tales of the story. The Legacy.
This essay was submitted by a student of Cheryl Petersohn, a teacher at Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pennsylvania.