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Top 16 Best James Michener Books Updated 03 /2024

Dennis Lehane
  Mar 28, 2024 2:59 PM

Here we ranked and reviewed the top 16 Best James Michener Books that are highly rated by 8,809 customers.

 


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    9.2
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    AI Score is a ranking system developed by our team of experts. It from 0 to 10 are automatically scored by our tool based upon the data collected(at the time of writing, more than 4,000 books and 3,000 authors). This score has no relationship or impact from any manufacturer or sales agent websites.

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    Dial Press Trade Paperback
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    AI Score is a ranking system developed by our team of experts. It from 0 to 10 are automatically scored by our tool based upon the data collected(at the time of writing, more than 4,000 books and 3,000 authors). This score has no relationship or impact from any manufacturer or sales agent websites.

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9
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12
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13
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14
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16
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Best James Michener Books

Many people know James A. Michener for writing historical fiction that is very well researched and that has many pages. A lot of people like his books because they are strong stories that look at the human experience through the lens of history and the past. Long layovers, lazy beach weekends and long stretches of time will also be forgotten in a sea of history. The following are ten of his biggest and best books of all time, in that order.

Tales of the South Pacific

For this book, Michener won the Pulitzer Prize. He is well-known for it. As the musical South Pacific by Rodgers and Hammerstein, it was made into a play for theater. When he was stationed in the New Hebrides Islands during World War II, he wrote the book based on what he saw and did there. What makes this book so good to read is that there are so many interesting characters and stories about how people interact with each other across cultures.

Return to Paradise

If you liked Tales of the South Pacific, you'll be happy to hear that there is a second book. In this book, Return to Paradise, we pick up where Tales of the South Pacific left off. It's another collection of short stories that show what life was like in the South Pacific in the late 1940s, and it's a great book to read.

The Bridges at Toko-Ri

Another one of Michener's books turned into a movie. This one is about the Korean War and focuses on Navy pilots. Michener, on the other hand, was a US Navy officer himself, and he wrote a lot of this book based on that. Among the stars of the movie version of the book were Grace Kelly and William Holden. This book has been praised by real veterans of the war because it is the most accurate depiction of what they went through.

Hawaii

This book was written the same year that Hawaii became part of the United States. It shows how many people, cultures, and realities have been a part of the history of the islands called Hawaii. It starts with the creation of the islands. It then talks about immigrants, missionaries, natives, and "Golden Men," who are the result of all the different groups coming together into one. People who live in Hawaii, as well as the people who helped make it what it is today, are praised in this book.

Texas

The longest of Michener's books, this 1,076-page novel had a first print run of 750,000 copies, which is a lot. Everything is bigger in Texas, where the book is set. As he always does, the book covers a lot of time and talks about the history of the state in a very personal way while still being true to the facts. This huge show of support for Texas didn't go over well with critics. It was made into a TV show, though. When did this happen? The book is huge and very detailed. It shows a new way of looking at the Lone Star State that is based on state archives and support from the government of Texas.

Legacy

When Legacy was first written in 1987, the Iran-Contra Affair was still very fresh in the minds of people in the United States. This is another book that deals with history. Michener, on the other hand, did not stay in that time frame. Instead, he used it as a backdrop to look into and bring human perspective to a number of eras in history. It's in the book that Major Norman Starr is giving a speech to Congress about the Iran-Contra scandal. Starr's fictional ancestors come into play when Michener lets us go back in time while giving us a sense of where we are now. During the Iran-Contra Affair, the book itself was all written. This makes it a "primary/secondary source" historical book.

Space

It looks like Michener is leaving history behind in this sci-fi book, but it's another mix of real and imaginary stories that he has written. During the 1940s, a group of fictional characters pick their own paths, leaving behind the Korean War and entering the new world of space exploration as it was for the next ten years and as it might have been for twenty more. Even though this book shows four men go to the moon and talks about how that mission went, most of it talks about politics and social issues of the time. It comes to an end with a look at how life will happen even though we don't know about it on Earth. Space, even though it is very different from some of his other work, gives an interesting look at what could have been and what could happen in the future.

Presidential Lottery

Presidential Lottery is a non-fiction account of what Michener thought was the real problem with our political system, the Electoral College. It shows how the Electoral College can be dangerous. To be a presidential elector in Pennsylvania, Michener was asked. He saw how pointless, dangerous, and potentially harmful the current system was after he tried it for himself. This book is a desperate plea to the people of the United States to do something about the way the government works.

The Novel

It was written in the early '90s. This work is very meta. Instead of writing about a man who writes historical novels, Michener writes about a man who writes historical novels. This book talks about a lot of literary devices that are later used in the novel itself. Even though it isn't autobiographical, it talks about a lot of them. It does have the same general style as other Michener books in that it has a lot of different people, characters, and how the main event changes their lives and perspectives. Michener fans should read this book because it focuses on how the book looks, what it's about and who wrote it, not just one place or one part of history.

The World is My Home

The Novel is not a memoir, but fans of Michener can be sure that he did not leave his own story out. You can find out a lot about the author, the man, and his work in The World Is My Home. When you read this book, you learn a lot about the author's interests and background. For example, he was a big fan of opera, and the book talks a lot about that. It helps him give background and insight into the "true" stories that helped make the fiction we now know and love. As a reader of this book, you get to meet your hero and reconnect with a long-time friend.


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