This book has its own characteristics.

The first 150 pages are really a tough slog. It seems as if you are walking through a thick swamp, with every step being a struggle.

The last 50 pages or so are also not easy to get through. It's like climbing a steep mountain, feeling a bit exhausted.

However, the middle part of this book is truly excellent. It's like finding a beautiful oasis in the desert. The story unfolds smoothly, and the characters come to life vividly.

I really enjoyed reading this middle part. It made me forget the hardships of the previous and subsequent pages and fully immersed myself in the wonderful world created by the author.

In general, although there are some difficult sections in this book, the middle part is definitely worth savoring.

DNF @ 18%

I'm nearly 200 pages into this book, yet we've only reached the late 18th century.

I can't help but think that once it delves into the core of the story, the part I'm eagerly anticipating, it might become tedious and overly detailed.

The book涵盖了地质学、恐龙、哺乳动物、水牛、海狸、鹰、响尾蛇、第一批美洲原住民、燧石 knappers、阿帕奇人、切罗基人、科曼奇人等等。

It's a veritable encyclopedia of information.

Perhaps I should have used this as a sleep aid.

At this point, I'm not sure if I have the patience to continue.

The story seems to be moving at a glacial pace, and I'm starting to lose interest.

Maybe if it picked up the tempo and focused more on the narrative rather than the minutiae, I might be more engaged.

As it stands, I'm on the verge of giving up.

Centennial, written by James Michener in 1974, is a remarkable piece of literature. My friend Tim Gibbons presented me with a first edition copy of this book after a discussion we had about it last year. It is a classic example of Michener's work, commencing the story from the geologic ages of the earth and progressing through the eras of dinosaurs and early humans, all the way to the present day. The sense of historic depth in this novel is truly its strength, as Michener masterfully weaves it into each successive chapter.

I was particularly struck by Michener's final chapter, which focuses on a month in the life of a man with genealogical ties to the major strands of human families in the story. What stood out to me was the vivid depiction of the ecological disaster unfolding - with the smog over Denver, the disappearing water of the plains, and the pervasive sense of waste and ignorance. There is even a page where the character denounces American football for being a malignant distraction, which was already the case by 1974 when Centennial was written.

The account of the white man's war and oppression of the Arapahoe and other tribes was difficult to read, but the book demands our attention and takes the time to tell the story. It is a great shame on our nation and our culture that such injustices persist to this day. Some of the speeches of the worst killers and haters in the book are eerily similar to the words of President Trump today.

Colorado has a disturbing history, and so does the rest of this continent, which was colonized by white elites to the detriment of the land, the native peoples, and ultimately, most everyone. My final thought is: what does human and natural reparation look like?

Michener stayed with our family for two weeks while he was penning this book. We owned a cattle ranch in southeast Wyoming, and he was conducting some of his ranching research with us. I was merely a teenager at that time, yet I remember him distinctly. He posed questions of such a nature that would enable someone to respond thoughtfully and at great length. He would smile and listen intently, never jotting anything down, but I could observe him mentally filing away every single word that was uttered. He read at least 200 books for each book he authored. He would spend a couple of years researching, posing inquiries, and getting to know people's stories for every book he wrote. Many of the ranching tales in Centennial were derived from historical events that took place on our ranch. He was an extraordinary man. I miss eagerly anticipating his next book.

I just didn't have the same level of enthusiasm for this book as I did for some of the other remarkable works he has penned. It felt like a real struggle to reach the end, especially when there were several other books sitting on my shelf, each one more interesting and captivating than the one in my hands. I found myself constantly being drawn to those other unread books, eager to explore their stories and worlds. The characters in this particular book didn't seem to come alive for me in the same way as those in his previous works. The plot, although not bad, lacked that certain something that would have made it truly engaging. I had high hopes for this book, but unfortunately, it just didn't measure up to my expectations.

This book was truly AMAZING!

At first glance, one might be intimidated by its substantial size. However, I can assure you that every single word within its pages was worth it. Michener is an outstanding storyteller. He weaves his tales with a fantastic narrative that keeps you engaged from start to finish and with great descriptive prose that brings the story to life.

You might assume that with a book of this magnitude, he would spend an excessive amount of time describing various elements. But that's not the case at all. He strikes the perfect balance, providing just the right amount of detail without any filler.

Moreover, even though this book was written in the 1970s, I find that the parts towards the end that deal with "modern day" Colorado still translate remarkably well to 2015.

If you have a penchant for a great story that is rich in detailed history, populated with wonderful characters, and so much more, I highly recommend giving this one a try. I firmly believe that you will not be disappointed.

Wow, what an amazing book! This quote truly encapsulates the essence of the story and what I believe the author aimed to instill in the reader:

“Pasquinel had taught Mckeag the meaning of freedom; of man alone on the infinite prairie hemmed in only by the horizon, and it forever receding.”

The book begins with the creation of the Earth, the formation of the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. It then delves into the era of dinosaurs like diplodocus that once roamed Colorado when it was a lush jungle with a tropical climate.接着，讲述了水牛的引入以及最初的人类，他们最终成为了我们今天所熟知的本土部落。像帕斯奎内尔和麦基格这样的毛皮猎人的时代，本应是西部最后一个真正自由的时代，那时人们仍带着枪和帐篷在大陆上漫游，密西西比河以西还没有一座城市。

This brings me to my only gripe with this book. Everything from this period and before was by far the most captivating to me. The book could have ended there, with just a fraction of the information about modern-day Colorado (modern being the 1970s), and I would have been over the moon. However, the author did almost the opposite. More time was devoted to the big cattle ranches, sugar beet plantations, and wheat farms, and the drama within these segments of civilized, agricultural life in Colorado than any other period in the book. I was like, "What the heck! Why would you choose the most objectively uninteresting time period to provide all that history and detail?"

In the grand scheme of things, this is just a minor quibble. Everything else in this book was simply fascinating. Presenting the history of the land in such a coherent and chronological manner makes you appreciate the passage of time and the beautiful way in which history often repeats itself. But it's still an issue I had with this book, and a rather significant one at that. Suddenly, I went from reading 50 pages a day to just 5, or sometimes even none. I think this was the longest book I've ever read. It ended up being over 1000 pages, and for most of it, it seriously didn't feel that long because I was so engrossed in the narrative. But yeah, those final ~300 pages could be a struggle at times, just because why am I hearing about this random farmer and his inability to irrigate his land properly? But even this part delved into details about things like Mexican revolutionaries and that country's civil war, so it wasn't all bad and always managed to return to fascinating historical topics.

Overall, this is a truly remarkable book. I'm astounded by how the author was able to pack so much historical context and information into what is, at the end of the day, just a novel with fictional characters and a fictional story. It's so much easier to get excited about history when you can see, in real time, how it affects the people of that time period. It's cool to be able to understand how the world we know today came to be the way it is, starting from billions of years ago. Great book - fascinating, well-researched, and extremely well-written.

8/13/15: I find myself making a serious effort to re-read CENTENNIAL. It's as if I'm drawn back into this world that Michener has created.

8/21/15: Indeed, I am making good progress. At 280 pages, I'm nearly one-third of the way through, and I'm thoroughly enjoying it. Michener weaves an incredible amount of historical detail into the narrative. As I mentioned in my original comments, this novel seems to have a better pacing compared to some of the more formulaic ones that followed. It keeps me engaged and eager to turn the page.

8/27/15: Michener has often faced accusations of having cardboard characters in his epics. However, I don't think that's the case with CENTENNIAL. Many of the characters are larger-than-life, but the ordinary folk are also well-drawn and believable. They add a sense of authenticity to the story.

8/31/15: There are just under 200 pages left to go, and we've finally reached the early years of the 20th Century. This novel serves as a reminder of the white man's unforgivable inconsiderateness towards Native Americans and some of the wildlife, like the buffalo, during his westward expansion. We are still dealing with the consequences of these actions today.

9/04/15: I have finished reading it. Although the final chapter flags a bit as Michener ties everything together, my Five-Star rating remains intact. CENTENNIAL is still, in my opinion, the best of Michener's historical epics. There were moments when I felt as if I had been transported into one of the great screen westerns by John Ford or Howard Hawks. It's a truly immersive experience.

\\n  My original comments:\\n

Although I haven't re-read it in its entirety since the mid-1970s (when I read it twice), CENTENNIAL probably remains my favorite novel by Michener. He was my favorite novelist for many years. This was only the third of his really "big" novels, preceded by HAWAII and THE SOURCE, and the formula wasn't quite set in stone yet. I thought this one had a great "sweep" to it. Like HAWAII, it begins with the creation of the land where the story will unfold and its earliest inhabitants. It also has some fascinating characters. Michener's storytelling powers were at their peak here, despite the opinions of one or two reviewers who thought it was a snooze-fest.

I really loathed the start of this book.

There were at least 50 pages dedicated to the geology and animal development of the region.

I couldn't bear it any longer and stopped after reading that many pages.

It was truly awful and incredibly boring.

The author seemed to go on and on about these topics in a rather dry and uninteresting way.

I was hoping for a more engaging and exciting start to the story, but instead, I was met with a barrage of technical and scientific details that did nothing to pique my interest.

It made me question whether I should continue reading the book at all.

However, I decided to give it a chance and see if it would get better further on.

Maybe the author had a good reason for including all this background information, but at the beginning, it was just a turn-off.

I'll keep my fingers crossed that the rest of the book is more enjoyable.

Centennial by James A. Michener

Book Review by Christine Calabrese

There are good writers, great writers, and genius writers. Michener was a genius.

During the mid-1980s, I discovered and fell in love with the works of James A. Michener. His books are long, often close to 1000 pages, detailed, and a fascinating mix of history and novel fiction interpretation. The flow of language, well-placed vocabulary, and romantic intrigue drew me into the Michener world of historical fiction.

After reading Chesapeake, I endeavored to read his other novels but somehow lost interest. Perhaps the distractions of everyday life and the expectation of another Chesapeake left me longing.

Fast forward years ahead, and I’ve been again taken by this wonderful author in Centennial. I found this book at a thrift store and exclaimed, “Michener!” embracing it as one would an old, forgotten friend.

Centennial did not disappoint. The story begins before man roamed the earth in a fictional location in Colorado. The reader follows dinosaurs, animals, and man through this part of America. Once man reaches the story, the reader glimpses into generations of families as they intertwine in the history of place and time. This writer essentially develops historical interest by using historical fiction to capture the imagination and mind. Interestingly, though fiction, the author researched facts that weave in and out of this story, adding to its intrigue and suspense.

Centennial is a page turner, a replacement of screen time. The reader can expect to be encapsulated in a warm, cozy cocoon while this social media, news-infused world bustles about.

If you live anywhere near Colorado, you will most likely enjoy this book.

As for me, I’m off to Poland with Michener next. Cheers!

I remember as a kid in the '70s that books by James A. Michener held a prominent place on the bookshelves of everyone my parents knew, and they also took up a significant amount of space on our own bookshelves.

My main memory, and I admit it's been a long time, but I recall it clearly. Those books all looked untouched. They were hardcovers, and the slipcovers appeared pristine on the shelves.

I also remember my Mom, the most avid reader and the one who inspired me to become a bookworm. She was the only person I ever saw with a Michener in her hands. We had four of his books on our shelves: Centennial, Space, Chesapeake, and Hawaii. She tried to read Hawaii but failed. I'm not sure how far she got, but she found Michener boring. She even wondered aloud if anyone who bought his books actually finished reading them.

Yet, I also remember the great excitement generated by the movie and TV mini-series adaptations of Michener's books among the Boomers. I watched most of those adaptations with my parents. It seems that many people bought his giant tomes just to watch the adaptations and claim they'd read the books, as no one around them had actually read them and didn't know what was cut or expanded.

Now, I can say that I've read a James A. Michener novel, Centennial. Although I almost gave up in the beginning, I'm glad I didn't.

Centennial isn't really a novel. It's a collection of many novellas that tell an overarching story. Michener calls them chapters, but there are subchapters within them, and each chapter could be a complete novel in someone else's hands.

Details from each chapter are important in other chapters. Characters return, whether they're dinosaurs, large beavers, Indigenous families, hermits, herds of cattle, suicidal ranchers, pseudo-princesses in castles, murder victims, or descendants of murderers. The interweaving of these seemingly disconnected tales gives Centennial depth and makes every revelation exciting. I wasn't expecting this from Michener, but once I started, I couldn't stop.

I expected little, almost stopped, but got so much in return for my perseverance that I may try another Michener epic. If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Well, I finally managed to read not the paperback but the hefty 1974 Random House hardcover.

Holding the book steady and upright was a nightmare. Indeed, I have rather delicate little hands.

This novel is pure, unadulterated, ambitious Michener, and it's great fun.

It涵盖了古生物学、马、俄勒冈小道、科罗拉多、印第安部落、甜菜、牧场主和养牛业、枪支、铁路等诸多内容。

这是一部科罗拉多的传奇故事，叙述毫不拖沓。

I think it's one of his best, but not better than The Source.

Of course it's not great literature; don't expect it to be, as it's Michener.

And if you come across the paperback, my goodness, read that instead.