Universally revered novelist James A. Michener was forty before he decided on writing as a career. Prior to that, he had been an outstanding academic, an editor, and a U.S. Navy lieutenant commander in the Pacific Theater during World War II. His first book, Tales of the South Pacific, won a Pulitzer Prize and became the basis of the award-winning Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific. In the course of the next forty years Mr. Michener wrote such monumental bestsellers as Sayonara, The Bridges at Toko-Ri, Hawaii, The Source, Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Alaska, Caribbean, and Mexico.
Decorated with America's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Mr. Michener served on the Advisory Council to NASA, held honorary doctorates in five fields from thirty leading universities, and received an award from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities for his continuing commitment to art in America. James A. Michener died on October 16, 1997.
