The Recurring Cast
Character guide · 8 books · 1959 to 1988

James A. Michener

Historical fictionFamily saga

James A. Michener wrote vast novels of place, each tracing a region from its geological origins through generations of the families who settle it: Hawaii, Colorado in Centennial, Maryland in Chesapeake, South Africa in The Covenant.

Best estimate, compiled from series guides, publisher descriptions and reviews where available, and from memory otherwise. Book level only, not chapter level. Minor includes cameos and brief references. Each book carries a confidence rating in its tooltip. Each novel stands alone; leading families and characters are charted per book.

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Who appears in which book

Click a name to follow that character from book to book, or a book title to see its cast.

LLeadMMajor·MinorHas a note
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James A. Michener books in order

Each series in publication order, with its lead characters. Where the story runs in a different order, switch to Story order. Crossover books are marked and listed under their main series. Use My books to track what you have read.

Novels

8 booksFamily saga
  1. 1Hawaii1959With Abner Hale · Set in HonoluluBuy on Amazon
  2. 2The Source1965With Dr John Cullinane · Set in IsraelBuy on Amazon
  3. 3Centennial1974With Levi Zendt · Set in ColoradoBuy on Amazon
  4. 4Chesapeake1978With The Steed family and The Paxmore family · Set in Maryland's Eastern ShoreBuy on Amazon
  5. 5The Covenant1980With The van Doorn family · Set in South AfricaBuy on Amazon
  6. 6Poland1983Set in PolandBuy on Amazon
  7. 7Texas1985Set in TexasBuy on Amazon
  8. 8Alaska1988Set in AlaskaBuy on Amazon

Characters

8 recurring and key characters, with the book each one first appears in.

Leads