He wrote more than 40 books, most of which were long, fictional family sagas covering the lives of many generations, set in particular geographic locales and incorporating detailed history.

[3] Michener's books include his first book, Tales of the South Pacific, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1948; Hawaii; The Drifters; Centennial; The Source; The Fires of Spring; Chesapeake; Caribbean; Caravans; Alaska; Texas; Space; Poland; and The Bridges at Toko-ri.

His non-fiction works include Iberia, about his travels in Spain and Portugal; his memoir, The World Is My Home; and Sports in America.

Return to Paradise combines fictional short stories with Michener's factual descriptions of the Pacific areas where they take place.

[5] As a Quaker, he could have qualified as a conscientious objector and not been drafted into the military, but Michener enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II.

[3][9][10] He traveled throughout the South Pacific Ocean on various assignments which he gained because his base commanders mistakenly thought his father was Admiral Marc Mitscher.

[5] Michener began his writing career during World War II, when as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy he was assigned to the South Pacific as a naval historian.

American television producer Bob Mann wanted Michener to co-create a weekly anthology series from Tales of the South Pacific and serve as narrator.

[13] Michener did lend his name to a different television series, Adventures in Paradise, in 1959, starring Gardner McKay as Captain Adam Troy in the sailing ship Tiki III.

The author states in My Lost Mexico (1992) that at times he would spend 12 to 15 hours per day at his typewriter for weeks on end, and that he used so much paper, his filing system had trouble keeping up.

[5] Set during the early 1950s, it tells the story of Major Lloyd Gruver, a United States Air Force ace jet pilot in the Korean War (1950–1953), now stationed in Japan, who falls in love with Hana-ogi, a Japanese woman.

In 1957 it was adapted into the highly successful movie Sayonara which starred Marlon Brando, James Garner, Miiko Taka, Miyoshi Umeki and Red Buttons; Umeki and Buttons both won the 1958 Academy Award ("Oscar") for best supporting actor / actress for their performances.

In 1962, he unsuccessfully ran as a Democratic Party candidate for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania, a decision he later considered a misstep.

"[5] In his memoir The World Is My Home, Michener would describe running for office as "one of the best things I've done because campaigning in public knocks sense into a man.

He wrote about that experience in a political science text Presidential Lottery: The Reckless Gamble in Our Electoral System, which was published the following year.

In it, he suggested alternate systems, including using a direct popular vote by majority for the office of President of the United States and other more creative solutions.

The Center provides three-year Michener Fellowships in fiction, poetry, playwriting and screenwriting to a small number of students.

[23][24] In October 1997, suffering from terminal kidney disease, Michener opted to end his daily dialysis treatment that had kept him alive for four years.

[33] The society's purpose is to:[33] In addition to writing novels, short stories, and non-fiction, Michener was very involved with movies, TV series, and radio.