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Michener, James A. ListingsIf you cannot find what you want on this page, then please use our search feature to search all our listings. Click on Title to view full description
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Mexico
Michener, James A.
1992 47662 In James A. Michener's Mexico, one of the world's greatest bestselling writers tells the story of a tumultuous land, in a novel that vividly captures the sweep of Mexico's colorful history and teems with a multitude of unforgettable characters. Moving between the past and present - from important events in Mexico's history to the excitement of a modern-day bullfight - and ranging from the arid plains of Mexico to Inquisition Spain and Civil War Virginia, here is the stirring saga of a man and a nation searching for their identities. Norman Clay, an American journalist, arrives in Mexico not only to report on the decisive duel between two celebrated matadors but also to learn more about his family's past. As he uncovers the story of his Mexican ancestors - among them an indomitable Indian queen, a conquistador priest, and a Confederate expatriate - the dramatic history of Mexico unfolds: the brilliance and brutality of an ancient native culture; the Spaniards' struggle to win souls and silver in the sixteenth century; the Mexican-American War; and the birth of a modern nation in bloodshed and revolution. Mr. Michener began to write this novel in 1961. After many months of research and writing he put it aside to work on another project, and then another, and eventually lost track of it. Thirty years later he discovered the lost manuscript and set to work completing it. The result is another Michener triumph, following in the magnificent tradition of Centennial, Texas, and Alaska. Publishers Weekly Schematic plotting, tortilla-thin characterizations and lengthy digressions on bullfighting mar this lumbering multigenerational saga about Mexico's resilient spirit, which Michener began in 1961 and returned to 30 years later. Norman Clay, earnest American journalist born and raised in Mexico, is sent to his native city in 1961 to cover a potentially deadly showdown between two famous matadors who represent ``the two faces of Mexico, the Spaniard versus the Indian.'' This bullfight festival, the book's centerpiece, is interwoven with more interesting historical interludes in which Clay grapples with his own mixed heritage. His diverse ancestors include a 16th-century Mexican Indian queen who leads a women's revolt against human sacrifice, a Spanish scholar burned at the stake during the Inquisition, a Franciscan soldier-priest who accompanies Hernan Cortes to Mexico, a Virginia plantation proprietor who loses his wife and sons in the Civil War, and Clay's father, a silver-mine owner who participates in the Mexican Revolution. The colorful novel cuts a wide swath through history but doesn't catch fire as a personal story. Michener began this novel 30 years ago, put it aside, and until recently left it unfinished. Perhaps that is why it is less formulaic than most of his mammoth excursions into the history of particular localities. Mexican-born Norman Clay, a journalist for a New York publication, returns to his natal city to report on the bullfights that highlight its annual festival. This year two matadors are joined in a rivalry that could end in death. Michener dramatizes the contradictions of contemporary Mexico not only in the conflicting styles and backgrounds of the matadors but also through the many duplicities inherent in bullfighting itself. The contradictions of 1961 Mexico are the result of its history, which is personified by Norman Clay, with his heritage of Pre-Columbian Amerindians, Spanish clerics and conquistadors, rancheros and mestizos, and even an unreconstructed Virginia rebel who found sanctuary in Mexico following our Civil War. Not the usual dutiful slog through the generations but a more carefully constructed interweaving of present and past, and one of Michener's finest efforts. Random House Publishing Group 0679416498 / 9780679416494
Hardcover As New Condition New York
Price:
24.01 USD
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RECESSIONAL
Michener, James A.
02869394 Hard Cover. As New/As New Book Jacket. Ex-Library. 6 x 9" . Published at Twenty Five dollars., this highly readable 484 page volume by one of the world's best-loved, bestselling novelists is set in the Palms, a florida retirement center. It follows several residents over the course of a year as their individual narratives -- humorous, moving, or sometimes triumphant -- unfold. ..Brodart Mylar protective book cover, library card at BACK of book, no other library markings! New York, NY, U.S.A.: Random House, Incorporated, 1994
Price:
10.00 USD
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SPACE
Michener, James A.
1982 49426 In his dramatic and compelling way of bringing history to life, Michener now tells the thrilling story a a 20th-century space development. Biography Part travelogue, part history, part fictional adventure, James Michener's heavily researched books edify as they entertain. He began his career with the book that would become the musical South Pacific, but he ended it as one of the century's most popular -- and prolific -- novelists Random House Publishing Group 0-394-50555-7 / 9780394505558
Hardcover Very good Condition New York
Price:
29.79 USD
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WORLD IS MY HOME
Michener, James A.
1991 47663 In this exceptional memoir, James Michener describes the people, events, and ideas that shaped his life. Moving backward and forward across time, he writes about the many strands of his experience: his passion for travel; his lifelong infatuation with literature, music, and painting; his liberal credo and his adventures in politics; and the hard work, headaches, and rewards of the writing life. Here at last is the real James Michener, plainspoken, wise, and enormously sympathetic, a man who could truly say, "The world is my home." Publishers Weekly Michener, a writer who has enjoyed enormous popular esteem, remains an elusive personality; and his memoir, though frank and open on the surface, brings us no closer to him. The book is considerably entertaining, for his storytelling skills are ever at work, from his wartime years as a young officer in the South Pacific to his service on various Washington committees, his world travels and his life as a successful writer. But it strikes one as unlikely that the reticent, unfussy, modest man he is at pains to portray could have mustered the determination and stamina to create the remarkable career he has enjoyed. Michener likes to see himself as Mr. Average, suggesting perhaps that anyone could have done what he has with what he acknowledges are only moderate gifts. But his accounts of his love of opera, painting and literature, and of the effort he made to educate himself in those arts, show him to be infinitely beyond the ordinary. His rigid standards of fiscal probity and his disdain for the limelight are also virtually unique among living authors, as is the generosity with which he has disposed of his considerable fortune to aid writers less well endowed. This is a frustrating book, then, because one wishes to know Michener better than he seems to know himself; but it will probably delight his many fans, even if it misleads them. Photos not seen by PW . (Jan.) Library Journal This latest Michener title explores the personal history and intellectual, political, and philosophical landscape of the prolific 84-year-old writer and storyteller--terms he prefers to author. Michener offers selected events and influences that enabled a Pennsylvania boy of unknown parentage and no monetary advantages to mature into a man who has had various mundane and adventurous occupations and has written over 30 books, published since he was 40, that have brought him fame, national honors, and enough money to fund generously a range of charitable endeavors. The 14 topically arranged chapters are by turns didactic, candid, reflective, occasionally repetitive, and usually informative--although Michener maintains his stance of not discussing certain topics (e.g., his divorces). Thus, while this book represents a refreshing change from the current crop of tell-all memoirs, a scrim often seems to separate reader from writer. Nevertheless, given the continuing popularity of Michener's works despite any adverse commentary, this book is a recommended addition to the Michener collection in any library.--V. Louise Saylor, Eastern Washington Univ. Lib., Cheney Booknews Michener moves backward and forward in time, writing about the many strands of his experience: his passion for travel; his lifelong infatuation with literature, music, and painting; his liberal credo and his adventures in politics; and the hard work, headaches, and rewards of the writing life. With 16 pages of photographs. Also available in a signed edition (see following entry). Altogether engaging if decidedly selective reminiscence from the peripatetic writer (not "author," he stresses) who's one of the world's most successful storytellers. Eschewing traditional autobiography, Michener (who turns 85 next year) looks back on his long, globe-trotting life from more than a dozen vantage points-travel, people, politics, health, wealth, etc. This idiosyncratic format permits hi Random House Publishing Group 0679401342 / 9780679401346
Hardcover Very Good Condition New York
Price:
29.30 USD
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