“I was surprised when shortly after New Year's Day of 1983, the Governor of Texas summoned me to his office, because I hadn't been aware that he knew I was in town.”James A. Michener book TexasTexas (1985) First lines
“On 24 October 1944 Planet Earth was following its orbit about the sun as it has obediently done for nearly five billion years.”James A. Michener book SpaceFirst lines Space (1982)
“Millions upon millions of years ago, when the continents were already formed and the principal features of the earth had been decided, there existed, then as now, one aspect of the world that dwarfed all others… a mighty ocean, resting uneasily to the east of the largest continent, a restless ever-changing, gigantic body of water that would later be described as Pacific.”James A. Michener book HawaiiHawaii (1959)
“On a bleak wintry morning some years ago I was summoned to the office of our naval attache at the American embassy in Kabul.”James A. Michener CaravansCaravans (1963) First lines
“About a billion years ago, long before the continents had separated to define the ancient oceans, or their own outlines had been determined, a small protuberance jutted out from the northwest corner of what would later become North America.”James A. Michener book AlaskaAlaska (1988) First lines
“In later years, it would become fashionable to say of the missionaries, "They came to the islands to do good, and they did right well." Others made jest of the missionary slogan, "They came to a nation in darkness; they left it in light," by pointing out: "Of course they left Hawaii lighter. They stole every goddamned thing that wasn't nailed down."”James A. Michener book HawaiiHawaii (1959)