Synopsis:
Everyone knows the name, but scarcely anyone knows the man. James A. Michener, the world's best selling story teller, didn't begin writing until he was 40, but with Tales of the South Pacific, his first book, he hit the jackpot. Each succeeding bestseller made him a millionaire many times over. Here for the first time is Michener's life story. This biography, written with Michener's cooperation, explores the drive behind the man's success, his relationships with women, agents, editors, publishers and friends. The book was published a dozen years before Michener's death.
From the Author:
I met Jim Michener in the summer of 1970 when the Cleveland Plain Dealer assigned me to interview him in Kent, Ohio, where he was researching a book about the May 4 tragedy at Kent State University. I was a senior journalism major at Kent State at the time and had been an eyewitness to the horrible weekend confrontation that ended in bloodshed and the deaths of four students. After the interview Michener asked if I'd like to work for him as a researcher for his book, Kent State: What Happened and Why. Of course I said Yes! For several months I had the privilege of watching Michener at work. During that time and for several years thereafter I was caught up in learning more and more about this man who had become one of the world's most cherished authors. Who was this man? What motivated him? One day I asked for his permission to write his biography. He responded haltingly - he said he didn't think anyone would really be interested in reading about him -- but gradually he cooperated with me. Fourteen years later he had cooperated considerably by introducing me to people in his life and by opening the doors to his private collections of papers at the Library of Congress and elsewhere. On numerous occasions I visited Michener at his home in Pipersville, Pa., and then St. Michaels, Md. Frequently I met up with him on the road when he was speaking or autographing books. He always found a chunk of private time to spend with me so that I could ask him more questions. Upon his suggestion, I used to send him a dozen questions by mail, and no matter where he was in the world, or what he was working on, he responded in a timely and usually enthusiastic fashion. By July 1982, however, I had either worn him down or worn out my welcome. I had sent him several pointed questions and rather than answering the questions he decided that we had "reached a logical halting spot." He went on to say that his decision could not harm me because "you already know more than anyone else on earth about your chosen subject matter. Were I to do tomorrow you would be totally competent to publish what you already have and to make shrewd, intelligent guesses about the rest; I feel confident your guesses would be close to the mark. . . . Well, you should proceed now as if I were gone." That said, only the writing remained. I completed the book in 1983 for publication in 1984. Meanwhile, Michener lived to the glorious age of 90 and died in 1997 at his home in Texas.
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