Two Complete Novels Alaska / Hawaii Author:James A. Michener Two epics by James Michener in one volume, "Alaska" and "Hawaii." — ALASKA — The high points in the story of Alaska since the American acquisition are brought vividly to life through more than 100 characters, real and fictional. Another told-from-the-beginning-of-time Michener saga, this one featuring Alaska. The book begins a billion years ago. I... more »ts first characters are the mastadon and the woolly mammoth, followed by such other settlers as the Eskimos, Athapaskans, and Russians. Vignettes of characters as varied as the Danish navigator Vitus Bering, who explored Alaska for Russia's Peter the Great, and Kendra Scott, the young Colorado teacher who taught the Eskimo children during the recent Prudhoe Bay oil boom, illustrate the colorful history of this vast and exploited land. Early on the book is vintage Michener, but the momentum encounters an Arctic chill midway. Final sections are trite, uneven, and overloaded with stereotypes. Too cumbersome to be called fiction, but Michener fans will demand it anyway.
HAWAII
Hawaii's prehistory and history appears through the eyes of its natives, missionaries and Asians who came to influence it.
The story of Hawaii, and of this book, is that of disparate peoples struggling to keep their identity and yet living with one another in harmony, ultimately joining together to build the strong and vital fiftieth US state. The Hawaiian islands remained undiscovered and untouched by man for countless centuries until the Polynesians, a little more than a thousand years ago, made the perilous journey to their new home. The Polynesians lived and flourished according to their ancient traditions and beliefs until, in the early nineteenth century, the American missionaries arrived, bringing with them a new creed and a new way of life. The impact of the coming of the missionaries had only begun to be absorbed when other national groups, with many different customs - notably the Chinese, the Japanese, and the Filipinos - began to migrate in great numbers to the islands.« less