This Noble Land, James A. Michener
This Noble Land, James A. Michener
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This Noble Land
My Vision For America

Author: James A. Michener

Narrator: Arthur Addison

Unabridged: 7 hr 40 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 08/04/2015


Synopsis

In such modern classics as Chesapeake, Centennial, Hawaii, Alaska, and Texas, James A. Michener proved time and again that his understanding of and love for his country was unparalleled. This Noble Land is Michener’s most personal statement about America, an examination of the issues that threaten to fragment and undermine the nation—racial conflict, the widening gulf between rich and poor, the decline of education, the inadequacies of our health care system—as well as a thought-provoking prescription for sustaining our “outstanding success.” Infused with the wisdom and passion of a lifetime, This Noble Land stands as a wake-up call for a troubled era.
 
Praise for This Noble Land
 
“A book-length essay on the often worrying, often inspiring course of America in the nine decades of Michener’s life.”—The Washington Post
 
“Michener is more interested in fixing the problems than in fixing the blame.”—The Dallas Morning News
 
“Michener’s are the beach books that, unlike most other beach books, leave you smarter than you were when you started reading. Each delivers the product of all that research, doled out to the reader at just the right rate. You know right away who the bad guys are—the petty ones, the stingy ones. The heroes are generous and energetic and smart and, above all, unprejudiced. The real-life villains in This Noble Land are the people Michener perceives as ‘petty, mean and vengeful.’”—St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 
“Stirring . . . an admirable effort to define what has made our country great and how to preserve what is best about it.”—Kirkus Reviews

About The Author

James A. Michener was one of the world’s most popular writers, the author of more than forty books of fiction and nonfiction, including the Pulitzer Prize–winning 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 America’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, in 1977, and an award from the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities in 1983 for his commitment to art in America. Michener died in 1997 at the age of ninety.Arthur Addison is an audiobook narrator. Books he has narrated include Andy Warhol by Wayne Koestenbaum, The Animal Within Us by Jay D. Glass, Confederates in the Attic by Tony Horowitz, and This Noble Land by James A. Michener.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Rodney on August 24, 2013

Reading any work by James Michener is an education and a vocabulary lesson. Every Michener book I have read has been a complete delight, CENTENNIAL and CHESAPEAKE being my favorites. THIS NOBLE LAND is a different genre, non-fiction, focusing on the cultural, political, economic environment of the U......more

Goodreads review by Andrew on May 18, 2016

3/5 because I equally agreed with some things he had to say and disagreed with others. Overall, I liked the book as a personal essay of life, observation and experience and even the parts I disagreed with, the more liberal views, I could learn how I feel on my own, how I would answer the question or......more

Goodreads review by Lucas on March 25, 2023

Throughly enjoyed this book. While somewhat being dated for the suggestions for the path forward for America in relation to certain issues - being that it was written over 2 decades ago. Some of the failures of America brought forward still to this day have not had suitable solutions. There were dis......more

Goodreads review by Edward on July 10, 2021

Wow! I have read so many of this author's books but did not know that he was so progressive. What an admirable person. I think he would have been happy to see Barack Obama elected as president had he lived and the passage of the Affordable Care Act. I also think he we bemoan the damage the filibuste......more

Goodreads review by Janice on April 29, 2013

This was published in 1996 and I do wish it was updated for the past 17 years! The best chapter is Ch. 11 The Young Colonels. What a wake up call! I love his mastery of history and current events. As I read it, I kept updating it in my mind for the recent events. Chapter 9 "Our Macho Society" is spo......more


Quotes

“A book-length essay on the often worrying, often inspiring course of America in the nine decades of Michener’s life.”The Washington Post
 
“Michener is more interested in fixing the problems than in fixing the blame.”The Dallas Morning News
 
“Michener’s are the beach books that, unlike most other beach books, leave you smarter than you were when you started reading. Each delivers the product of all that research, doled out to the reader at just the right rate. You know right away who the bad guys are—the petty ones, the stingy ones. The heroes are generous and energetic and smart and, above all, unprejudiced. The real-life villains in This Noble Land are the people Michener perceives as ‘petty, mean and vengeful.’”St. Louis Post-Dispatch
 
“Stirring . . . an admirable effort to define what has made our country great and how to preserve what is best about it.”Kirkus Reviews