When I read this book, I determined I would someday live in Colorado. It was that good. I read the book over 25 years ago and I will pick it up every once in a while and read parts of it or the whole thing. Warning, it is very long, but well worth the investment of time. There is a particularly great part at the end that has always stuck with me about the wilderness and natural parts of Colorado.

From the beginning, with the dinosaurs and beavers to the lives of fictional characters one can immediately click with, Centennial is definitely a must read for anyone remotely interested in historical fiction and the Colorado area. Michener seamlessly displays the many angles and stories, intertwining them so that you aren't bored and you see the larger picture. When I was living in the newly named Centennial, formerly Englewood in CO, I was drawn to the coincidence and background of the area. The parts with the Native Americans being slaughtered was moving.

The works of James A. Michener have always fascinated me and "Centennial" did not disappoint me. The research the author does goes a long way in improving my knowledge of different parts of the world. In this case I feel that I have an in depth knowledge of Colorado, its history and its people.From this book I gain a wonderful appreciation of the early American pioneers, the difficulties they encountered and the great loneliness they must have felt at times. Just towards the end of the book I was disappointed to read of the disregard of some of the present day inhabitants of the wildlife and the environment of this wonderful state.
James Hughes

This book is excellant and very much the same flavor as Michner's Alaska!


It is more than a book or a story; it is a 5-year history course, crammed into 1,000 pages!

Centennial and Lonesome Dove remain two of the BEST books I've ever read! It's like a memorable meal or movie that you just can't forget and you keep wanting another experience just like it. Reading these books ruins you for reading anything else. You keep searching for another just as good.