This Noble Land

My Vision For America

By: James A. Michener

Narrated by: Arthur Addison

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

Critic reviews

“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

makes me ponder

Written in 1996, it still has resonance in 2018. It's interesting to see how the predictions and recommendations have been adopted or ignored. I used this book to provoke discuss within my family on road trips.

Very relevant to today 2019

His views are so thought out as to the issues that the United States could face that his suggestions would have caused positive results. Sad that his concerns in 1996 are the big problems we face today.

A startling realization

Any additional comments?

Politically Michener and I are opposites. But that doesn't mean This Noble Land doesn't have anything to offer. No matter where you stand politically this book offers things you will both nod and shake your head to. The Democrat and liberal party of Michener's day is quite a bit different than the base party today. What's startling is when Michener lays out the problems of the his day and we can see how these things are still a problem and in many cases have gotten worse. I would like to see where Michener stands on events today. I was in near complete agreement with Michener for most of the book and his warnings are wise and thought-worthy. But especially near the end Michener loses his party blind look at America and goes into a polarized ideological spiel about everything wrong with the Republicans of the 1990s and how only his views should be an acceptable fix. He's right in many ways, but often his take all approach is why parties don't compromise. But this is just the last chapter or so and shouldn't be reflective of the entire book. This Noble Land is a great read, particularly for today's generation of polarized party politics. IF only we all could take such an honest look at America and come together to really fix the problems that plague us.

almost spot on!

very impressed with this author. He has written very incredible books that take you all over the place in historic based fiction and Beyond. This book chose his ideas as far as politics and Society. Although I do not agree with everything he writes, I do agree with most of it. For those of you who love this author or who want to see a wise persons Outlook of where our country was going in the mid-to-late 90s, this is a must.

Dated

The world has changed since this book was written. Some good for today, good review on policies, but I didn't agree with all of it.