As Harrison Salisbury wrote in the Chicago Tribune, "James Michener is as much an American institution as the Fourth of July or apple pie." Michener wrote short stories, essays, poems, and art histories, but he was best known as the author of lengthy nov...

James Michener has published nearly a dozen volumes of fiction, but such is his versatility that he has published more than an equal number of volumes of nonfiction, and more than one hundred articles in periodicals. He does, however, think of himself pr...

James Michener (1907-1997) is best known for his many epic historical novels, which have sold an estimated 75 million copies worldwide. He was also a noted philanthropist, having contributed more than $100 million to universities, libraries, museums, and...

HUNGER'S BRIDES A Novel of the Baroque By Paul Anderson Carroll & Graf. 1,358 pp. $35 At the age of 16, Juana Ines Ramirez de Santillana y Asbaje -- the illegitimate offspring of an illiterate, if prosperous, mother and an...

Nineteenth-century Mexican politics was a struggle between conservative monarchists and liberal republicans. This debate was played out in the streets, in discussion and in novels and other literature. Liberal authors wrote stories that illustrated how an ideal society might look. Conservatives wrote dystopias in...

Terrorism: Another six blasts at Mexico's energy infrastructure Sunday drove world natural gas prices higher. But the probable real intention was to destabilize Mexico by destroying its economy. Who benefits here?Thus far, no one has claimed responsibility for the coordinated attack in Veracruz that blew...

War On Terror: Mexico may think its differences with the U.S. and status as a nonaligned country somehow shield it from the global war on terror. But last week's evacuation of its tallest building shows it too is a target.Nearly 11,000 people were evacuated Thursday...