Credit: (CORBIS/Bettmann) Donated by Corbis-Bettmann.
It was during World War II, while he was serving in the Pacific theater, that James Michener, now in his later thirties, decided to try his hand at writing. After a life-changing airplane landing in New Caledonia he decided, "When this is over, I'm not going to be the same guy. I am going to live as if I were a great man."
