Michener's South Pacific

Stephen J. May

$57.99

Paperback

Forthcoming
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English

University Press of Florida
07 October 2025

Musicals; Biography: literary

The creation of one of the most beloved books and Broadway musicals of the century

When the Japanese military attacked Pearl Harbor, James A. Michener was an obscure textbook editor working in New York. Within three years, he was a naval officer stationed in the South Pacific. By the end of the decade, he was an accomplished author, well on the way to worldwide fame.

Michener’s first novel, Tales of the South Pacific, won the Pulitzer Prize. Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein used it as the basis for the Broadway musical South Pacific, which also won the Pulitzer. How this all came to be is the subject of Stephen May’s Michener’s South Pacific.

An award-winning biographer of Michener, May was a featured interviewee on the fiftieth-anniversary DVD release of the film version of the musical. During taping, he realized there was much he didn’t know about how Michener’s experiences in the South Pacific shaped the man and led to his early work.

May delves deeply into this formative and turbulent period in Michener’s life and career, using letters, journal entries, and naval records to examine how a reserved, middle-aged lieutenant known as ""Prof"" to his fellow officers became one of the most successful writers of the twentieth century.

By: Stephen J. May
Imprint: University Press of Florida
Country of Publication: United States [Currently unable to ship to USA: see Shipping Info]
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm,
ISBN: 9780813081342
ISBN 10: 0813081343
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 07 October 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

Stephen J. May is the author of Michener: A Writer’s Journey, which served as the basis for the PBS documentary James Michener: An Epic Life. He has also written a two-volume biography of Zane Grey and served as technical advisor for the most recent Broadway revival of South Pacific.