Centennial

A Novel

De: James A. Michener

Narrado por: Larry McKeever

Duración: 50 h y 13 m

Resumen del Editor

Written to commemorate the Bicentennial in 1976, James A. Michener's magnificent saga of the West is an enthralling celebration of the frontier. Brimming with the glory of America's past, the story of Colorado - the Centennial State - is manifested through its people: Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chieftain and warrior, and his Comanche and Pawnee enemies; Levi Zendt, fleeing with his child bride from the Amish country; and the cowboy, Jim Lloyd, who falls in love with a wealthy and cultured Englishwoman, Charlotte Seccombe. In Centennial, trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters are brought together in the dramatic conflicts that shape the destiny of the legendary West - and the entire country.

©2014 James A. Michener (P)2015 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

"A hell of a book.... While he fascinates and engrosses, Michener also educates." ( Los Angeles Times)

"An absorbing work.... Michener is a superb storyteller." ( BusinessWeek)

"An engrossing book...imaginative and intricate...teeming with people and giving a marvelous sense of the land." ( The Plain Dealer)

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

The story is excellent, so good I took the time to put the mini series on my computer and commenced to extract the audio from it, made tracks for each scene and copied the finished product to cd. Now I have the entire audio on my Note 4. Overall, this is mediocre version of an audio book. the reason for this is the "ugly", the performance. I give him credit for taking the time to do it, since nobody else has, but if your going to get paid to do something you should do it well. It's read with no feeling and when he's reading the quotes of the characters, he goes into this choppy, robotic tone. He sounds like I did when I was learning to read in kindergarten "see spot run". Would love for someone else to tackle this epic story!

BTW Arkansas is not that hard to pronounce correctly.

Still better than nothing, but was hoping for better than this.

Classic Michener

I don't give out 5 stars to every good book I listen to. I almost gave it to this one. My one criticism is the slow start to the book. The first hours are spent telling the story of a journalist in the 1970's researching a story on Colorado. This holds little interest or significance until he rejoins the story in the last chapter. The next section deals with the geophysical development of the land and the evolution of life. Michener tries to make some of the prehistoric animals humanlike, but learning about the thoughts of a typical dinosaur, bison, beaver, and early horse can only be so interesting. I read a newspaper article at this book's release that claimed Michener intentionally makes the beginnings of his books difficult to keep casual readers away. Maybe he succeeds.
After the slow start, watch out. You will care about the characters and will be drawn into a superb story. If you get to the tenth hour, you will not be able to stop listening.
Enjoy!

Masterpiece

A wonderful history lesson of the settling of the West. To read a Michener book is a commitment of time but worthy.

change is not good but it happens

Would you listen to Centennial again? Why?

I enjoyed Centennial very much, I always enjoy the history in James Michener books

What did you like best about this story?

The development of the sugar beet and the different families that came to Colorado to work in sugar beet farms

Have you listened to any of Larry McKeever’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Yes I enjoy Larry's reading very much

Who was the most memorable character of Centennial and why?

The Buffalo

informative story

I really enjoyed this book. I would recommend it to others. I learned a lot about the past.

Mitchener 's books are wonderful!

I struggle through the first few chapters then the story blooms. His research is reflected in the story and draws it together for a fabulous read.

Hard to follow at times, but helped me on the end

I had to read/listen to this for college. It was a good book. The first chapter was hard to follow, but after we got some human characters, it was easier. Sometimes felt all over the place cause it would jump on the timeline and you’d just have to figure out where you were. But over all, very good for the history part. It made it easy for me to follow actual CO history.

Super Story

Engaging story and relatable characters. A fantastic means to digest the unbelievable tale of westward expansion.

Disappointing

Michenner's Centennial in it's origina published form was one of greatest novels ever written to summarize the growth around the fictitious town of Centennial. However, the interjection of comments by a supposed analyst reviewing the accuracy of evennts, background and growth around the book was utterly unnecessary and distracting to Micheners story line. I say boo to the editor who allowed this defacement of a truly great book read by Larry A McKeever

How the West was REALLY won

First of all the narration of the book was excellent. Having read four or five books by James Michener this will researched saga came as no surprise. Michener’s attention to detail is impeccable, but his real strength lies in being able to tell a story that brings to life characters, who, in this case, truly define what it was to be an American frontiersmen.
I also appreciate the way he uses this backdrop to share his own opinions about both the ingenuity of the new Americans and the total destruction that they wreaked on North America. Westward expansion destroyed the Native Americans, who had coexisted on the plains for millennia, for no other reason than the simple fact that the Europeans were afraid of them. These same foolish people decimated beaver, Buffalo, prairie dog, American bald eagle, bear. They destroyed rivers by diverting them or if they suspected there was gold in them, they stripped them. The dust bowl that many of us have heard about, was created by their poor farming techniques and lack of respect or understanding for the land. Michener pulls no punches when he accuses us all of having been poor stewards of the land, but he does show us a glimmer of hope. The new awareness for what we have, and what we need to do to restore balance to our land, air and water.