Centennial: A Novel (Paperback)

by James A. Michener (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
A runaway best seller, Michener's Centennial was written as a tribute to America's bicentennial celebration. The book's 900 pages cover 136 million years. Centennial is an epic novel of the history, land, and people of Colorado. Centered around the fictional town of Centennial, the story contains an extensive cast of characters including Native Americans, French fur trappers, English noblemen, and American cowboys. Providing lively narrative against Michener's skillfully researched canvas are people like Levi and Ellie Zendt, who left the confining life of the Pennsylvania Dutch only to find terror and uncertainty on the trip west, and the Garrett family, whose yearly struggle to farm the land was met time and again with defeat. However, much of Michener's remarkable accomplishment is lost in this abridgment. Although the listener gets the main thrust of the story line, the strength and beauty of the original are lost. David Dukes's plodding narration is equally dull. Most libraries should stick with the print version.
- Gretchen Browne, Rockville Centre P.L., N.Y.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Description
"Michener is America's best writer, and he proves it once again in CENTENNIAL."
THE PITTSBURGH PRESS
A stunning panorama of the West, CENTENNIAL is an enthralling celebration of our country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of the American past that only bestselling author James Michener could bring to stunning life. From the Native Americans, the migrating white men and women, the cowboys, and the foreigners, it is a story of trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters--all caught up in the dramatic events and violent conflicts that shaped the destiny of our legendary West.


From the Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 928 pages
• Publisher: Random House Trade Paperbacks (May 29, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0812978420
• ISBN-13: 978-0812978421
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.2 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (54 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #46,416 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #12 in

  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( M ) > Michener, James

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Sprawling Epic of the American West, April 1, 2003

By	D. Mikels "It's always Happy Hour here" (Skunk Holler) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Centennial (Mass Market Paperback)

I've been fortunate enough to read several of James A. Michener's works, and CENTENNIAL is by far my favorite from this gifted author. In fact, I've read this book twice, which is no small task, given its 900-plus pages.

CENTENNIAL is about a fictitious town of the same name in Colorado. The town is not nestled in the majestic Rockies, as one might expect, but instead is located out on the vast, open, treeless, windswept plains that run down from the eastern slopes of the mountains. It is here, at the nexus of two radically diverse land masses, that Michener gives the reader a comprehensive history of the area, from the formation of the land and its rivers, to its prehistoric inhabitants, to its early settlers, to its subsequent clash of various cultures. The plains Indians, fur trappers, pioneer settlers, soldiers, ranchers, dry land and irrigation farmers, and the hearty descendents of these diverse groups--all are depicted vividly and weaved into an engrossing story by an author with a keen eye for detail.

CENTENNIAL furnishes an impressive assortment of powerful, unforgettable characters: Lame Beaver, an Arapaho chieftan; Pasquinel, a French fur trapper; pioneer Levi Zendt; trail boss R.J. Poteet; ranchers Jim and Charlotte Lloyd; and many more. Through these characters the reader is given an epic tale of the American West, a tale that is beautiful, compelling, profound, and often tragic. CENTENNIAL is higly recommended to any student of the American West, or to any lover of epic literature.

35 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Centennial Is Michener's Epic Novel of the American West, August 5, 2005

By	James Koenig "konedog" (Minnesota) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Centennial (Mass Market Paperback)

James A. Michener's "Centennial" is arguably his best literary work. Released in 1976, at the bicentennial of our nation's history, Centennial was a the novel blockbuster of the year. Like all of Michener's historical fiction novels, Michener lived in the actual town of Centennial, Colorado, for a year or more to do the extensive research for his story. The story itself is one that spans the ages from the lying down of the bedrock of the earth to the first creatures, to the Native American Arapaho, to the coming of the white settlers, to modern times. Each chapter is a mini-novel in itself dealing with a specific time period. Some of the characters Michener has created will be remembered for the rest of the reader's life. He writes at length on the life of Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chief, a fascinating narrative of how the Native Americans lived and how their society was overcome by the tidal wave of European white immigrants. Then there is R. J. Poteet, the cowboy trailboss who moves a herd of cattle from Texas to Centennial in order to establish the first cattle ranch in that area. Michener writes about the "dry-farming" methods of the white farming settlers such as "Potato Brumbaugh and men like him, who were the first to turn the soil, and how these "sod-busters" conflicted with the open-range ranchers, and their conflict to who would control the water rights of the land. The chapter on the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl years is still vivid in my mind more than 30 years after reading it.

Yes, this is a novel of epic proportions, over 1,000 pages in length, that will entrance you with every new chapter. It is a novel that you will not want to put down. It is also so well written that you will want to read it again to experience the lives and stories of the characters that Michener brings to life.

Michener's writing style is one that is unique to him. Readers seem to either love his vivid and pprolific prose, or they are overwhelmed by the great attention to detail that is Michener. I happen to be in the group that loves his writing and has read virtually all his novels. If you have never read a novel by Michener, this is the one to read first to see if you like his writing style. Like me, chances are you will become a life-long fan of the man who has become one of my favorite authors.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michener doesn't disappoint, April 14, 2000

By	J. Seifert (Indianapolis, IN USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Centennial (Mass Market Paperback)

This is the 8th Michener book I've read, and they're all good books. Always well researched and entertaining. This one concerns the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, and like most books written by Michener, start with the formation of mountains and animal life at the beginning of time, and later focuses on a few families and their extended family trees throughout the ages. He wonderfully illustrates the influences of the many cultures that make up the heart of America, using this one fictional town only as an example. A long read at over 900 pages, but worthwhile.

(If you want, though, you can skip the second chapter about the land forming and dinosaurs wandering over the earth... It's pretty dull and has little bearing on the rest of the book.)