Michener, James A

Creates a microcosm of America by chronicling four centuries in the life of a fictional family on Maryland's Eastern Shore, beginning in 1611 when its patriarch arrives from England with Captain John Smith and showing how the family is shaped by historical events and its fellow countrymen and -women of other races and ethnicities.

Excerpts from Michener's other novels are collected in this single volume in which he re-creates the planet Earth as it existed millions of years ago when dinosaurs flourished, describes the vast forces that created the geological wonders we know today, and explains how in the millennia-old struggle for survival, some species endured and evolved while others disappeared.

A novel of a U.S. Army man who falls in love - against his will - with a beautiful Japanese woman.