James A. Michener was one of the worldâs most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prizeâwinning Tales of the South Pacific, the bestselling novels The Source, Hawaii, Alaska, Chesapeake, Centennial, Texas, Caribbean, and Caravans,and the memoir The World Is My Home. Michener served on the advisory council to NASA and the International Broadcast Board, which oversees the Voice of America. Among dozens of awards and honors, he received Americaâs highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977, and an award from the Presidentâs Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 1983 for his commitment to art in America. Michener died in 1997 at the age of ninety.