What is James A. Michener?
[[File:James Albert Michener · DN-SC-92-05368.JPEG|thumb|James A. Michener]] '''James Albert Michener''' ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|tʃ|ə|n|ər}} or {{IPAc-en|ˈ|m|ɪ|tʃ|n|ər}};<ref>{{cite news|title=Michener |work=The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language |edition=Fourth |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |year=2004 |url=http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/michener}}</ref> February 3, 1907 – October 16, 1997) was an [[Americans|American]] [[writer]]. His books include ''[[Tales of the South Pacific]]'', ''[[Hawaii (novel)|Hawaii]]'', ''[[The Drifters (novel)|The Drifters]]'', ''[[Texas (novel)|Texas]]'', and ''[[Poland (novel)|Poland]]''. Most of his 40 books are very large [[story|sagas]]. They are about the lives of many [[generation]]s in a particular place. His non-[[fiction]] writings include the 1992 book ''[[The World is My Home]]'' and ''[[Sports in America]]''. Michener wrote that he did not know who his parents were or exactly when and where he was born. He was raised by an [[adoption|adoptive]] mother, Mabel Michener, in [[Doylestown, Pennsylvania|Doylestown]], [[Pennsylvania]]. Some have argued that Mabel was his birth mother. He [[Graduation|graduated]] from [[Swarthmore College]], where he played [[basketball]], in 1929. He later studied at the [[University of Northern Colorado|Colorado State Teachers College]]. He taught there for several years. He also taught at [[Harvard University]]. His writing [[career]] began during [[World War II]]. He was assigned to the [[Pacific Ocean|South Pacific Ocean]] as a [[navy|naval]] [[historian]]. He used his time there as the basis for ''[[Tales of the South Pacific]]'', his first book. This book was the basis for the [[musical]] ''[[South Pacific (musical)|South Pacific]]''. Michener met his wife Mari while in [[Japan]]. His novel ''Sayonara'' is [[autobiography|autobiographical]]. On January 10, 1977, he was given the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] by [[Gerald R. Ford]]. In his final years, he lived in [[Austin, Texas]], where he died of [[kidney fail