By the time of his death in late 1997, there were more than seventy-five million copies of his books in print. And those who had not actually read one of his novels may have been exposed to Michener's work through various adaptations, from plays and films to television mini-series. But, while Michener's novels have been popular among readers, they did not always receive praise from critics. The length of the books was a problem, as was the quality of Michener's prose. Some reviewers commented that his character portrayals were shallow and lacking in credibility. Others complained about Michener's tendency to write about animals as if they had human traits. Frequently, the novelist's moral stance, clearly delineated in his work, was often a cause for dismay. Finally, not everyone approved of Michener's presentation of the facts of history. "No man has done more to corrupt the historical perspective of Americans than Michener," exclaimed D. Keith Mano in
National Review. Given such complaints about Michener's novels, many critics continued to express puzzlement over the writer's success with the reading public. As Nicholas Lemann noted in the Washington Post Book World, "Everyone is entitled to a theory as to why of all American writers Michener is the most popular." Lemann, for one, thought it was because Michener's mixture of appealing "melodrama" and factual information made readers "feel that the long hours spent reading" a Michener book "qualify as self-improvement." Peter C.
