With the passing of James Michener in 1997, America lost one of the most prolific American novelists and outstanding philanthropists of the twentieth century. In his popular, although often lengthy books—spanning 50 years of almost continuous output—Michener explored places as diverse as the South Pacific, South Africa, Spain, Afghanistan, Poland, Japan, Israel, the Caribbean, Hungary, the American West, Chesapeake Bay, Alaska, and Outer Space … to name but a few. Through reading Michener, millions of people worldwide were introduced to these places via a dramatic narrative tied to the geographical and historical events of the chosen place. His experiences gained from a lifetime of wandering the globe, absorbing the lives and cultures of ordinary people, became the central focus in his books. In his autobiography, The World Is My Home (1992), he explains that writing to him was a mental discipline, and that his strengths lay...