Lot #154: 4 paperback books by James A Michener

1) Return to Paradise, 416 pages, ca 1952. Michener revisits the islands and cultures of the South Pacific in the late 1940s, combining factual descriptions and tales set in such exotic places as Tahiti, Fiji, New Zealand, and Australia. Is a sequel to Tales of the South Pacific. 2) The Source, 1088 pages, ca 1966. A survey of the history of the Jewish people and the land of Israel from pre-monotheistic days through the birth of the modern State of Israel and up until 1964. 3) Tales of the South Pacific, 384 pages. A Pulitzer Prize-winning collection of sequentially related short stories about the Pacific campaign in World War II. The stories are based on observations and anecdotes he collected while stationed as a lieutenant commander in the US Navy at the Espiritu Santo Naval Base in the New Hebrides Islands (now known as Vanuatu). Written in 1946 and published in 1947. 4) Rascals in Paradise, 384 pages, 1957. Portraits of ten scandalous men and women, some infamous and some overlooked, including Sam Comstock, a mutinous sailor whose delusions of grandeur became a nightmare; Will Mariner, a golden-haired youth who used his charm to win over his captors; and William Bligh, the notorious HMS Bounty captain who may not have been the monster history remembers him as. From lifelong buccaneers to lapsed noblemen, these rogues become the stuff of legend. Pickup category timeslot {A}