Proud to be called a knee-jerk liberal, Michener also was passionately political he even ran for Congress. He won the Presidential Medal of Freedom, this country’s highest civilian honor. And an art collector who wrote two books on Japanese prints. He was a philanthropist who donated a fortune to education. Michener also did much else in his long life besides pump out best sellers. But that book - “Tales of the South Pacific,” typed out in a Navy Quonset hut by the glow of a foul-smelling lantern - won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1948.įrom then on, he wrote and wrote and wrote.įorty-seven books. Michener did not write his first manuscript until he was 40. His condition had deteriorated to a point where he ordered his doctors to take him off the dialysis unit last week. Though he continued to work, his need for kidney dialysis three times a week forced him to stay close to his modest home in Austin, Texas. He had been in frail health in recent years, undergoing a quadruple bypass and hip surgery. Michener was author of such blockbusters as “Hawaii,” “Texas,” “Centennial” and “Iberia” - which sold in incredible volume despite their imposing length. James Michener, the extravagant storyteller who wrapped historical fact in sweeping fiction, died of renal failure Thursday at age 90.
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