Try Chesapeake. I liked all his books that I read, but that is the most memorable, and beautiful setting. I read Hawaii in 10th grade when it first came out. For our monthly book report, the history teacher said anyone who read it got an automatic A+ - not a real challenge...took me about a week. I really felt like I got a lot of information from it. When I visited Hi in the 80's, the missionary stories all came back to me, especially at the mission museum in Honolulu. And the palace. Oh my gracious.

I reread Space recently and really enjoyed it.

The book he won the Pulitzer for was TALES OF THE SOUTH PACIFIC. This was also the basis for the Rogers & Hammerstein musical SOUTH PACIFIC, so you can watch the video (or the concert version, which was just aired on PBS starring Reba MacIntyre) to get you going.

Brenda

I really have liked his books. Chesapeake is also my favorite with Hawaii, Caravans, and The Drifters as close runner-ups. My only complaint with some of his books are that the stories about the different time periods weren't long enough if I was really interested in a certain character, which is why I get frustrated with short stories.

I also liked Chesapeake best, but that may be because I know the area pretty well. I also really enjoyed The Source set in the Middle East-very timely again. Wasn't as wild about Texas and Centennial. I enjoyed Tales of the South Pacific but that is, in large part, because one of my father's favorite "play during dinner" albums was South Pacific and we saw the play and movie several times.

Here is still another vote for Chesapeake. I haven't read all of his books but Chesapeake is the one I plan to re-read.

"Chesapeake" is my favorite, also. I've re-read it over the years and honestly, I think I enjoy it so much since I live the area about which he is writing. "Texas" was really good and I read it while I lived in San Antonio. On the other hand, "Centennial" didn't float my boat and I lived in Colorado, too.

I liked Centennial and Hawaii best.

I vote for Hawaii.

I loved Hawaii and I can still remember much of the story. I think I read Chesapeake but can't recall anything. I also rember liking The Source.

Chesapeake was very good, but my favorite was The Drifters.

If you didn't like Hawaii I would try The Source which is my favorite.

Hawaii is my favorite, with Centennial the second. It has been too long since I read The Source, and my husband and I went to Israel a couple of years ago, so I need to read that one again. I think the reason I like Hawaii so much is that he sticks with his characters and/or segments long enough you get to care about them. I didn't find that to be true in a lot of his books, but I do like him.

Remember that Michener's books are fiction. That became clear to me when I took a trip to the Arctic Circle and went through the Yukon and Alaska. I had his book Alaska with me and it became very clear that while he often used real characters and stories in his books, both the characters and stories were commonly embellished. It made for a good read but it made me very suspicious of his historical research in his other novels, as well.

I expect historical fiction to be embellished! But the best historical fiction uses good research to get the basic details right. I figure it's a way to get some background on an area or era with a text that sweeps me along.

In HawaiiI don't think the individual missionaries were real stories but their approach to the Hawaiians was pretty accurate and the wealth their posterity accumulated was correct. I think Michener does a pretty good job on the research.

Yesterday I ordered The Source and Chesapeake off Paperbackswap. Considering they rarely have anything I want (my wish list is over 75), they had a good selection of Michener.

It has been years since I read any Michener, but I remember enjoying The Drifters, Caravans-and didn't he write a book called Poland? I think he did and I enjoyed it and learned a lot-even though fiction about the history of the country.

Pat

I couldn't get into Chesapeake but read and enjoyed Centennial.
However, The Source is one of my all time favourite books. The story is very compelling, and I liked the way he linked the finding of the artefacts in modern times with the story of how it was deposited.

James Michener is an author with whom I've traveled many a mile over the years. I really miss looking forward to his next book. There have been only a few that I could not get through--one being Space and another being Poland. I did not particularly enjoy the one on Mexico because of its emphasis on bull fighting.
Chesapeake, Centennial, The Source, Tales of the South Pacific, Hawaii, Texas, Alaska, the Covenant, are all wonderful. And if you know Michener enough to be interested in his personal story, try The World Is My Home, his autobiography.
I owe Mr. Michener thanks for many enjoyable, well-spent reading hours.

I loved Caravans as a twenty-something. Don't know if I'd enjoy it now or not.

Do you think he had writers and/or researchers help him? The amount of informtion and length of the books is very large. I always wondered about that. He's gone now, right?