Rating: 
Summary: A masterpiece
Review: This book is an outstanding tribute to the way life was in America's west 100 years ago. Tripping from several points of view and through various characters' lives, this book grips the reader but only after a rather laborious 100 pages of scene setting.
The start could be seen by the impatient as tedious, but really it all sets the backdrop for a gripping novel. Some excellent writing techniques and a distinctive style mean that the reader really feels a part of the towns that the novel visits.
Centred around a fictitious town in Colorado, Centennial, the book plots the expansion of the railways, the dusty lives of cowboys and the ruthless extermination of buffalo and indian alike.
Rating:
Summary: Michener doesn't disappoint
Review: This is the 8th Michener book I've read, and they're all good books. Always well researched and entertaining. This one concerns the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado, and like most books written by Michener, start with the formation of mountains and animal life at the beginning of time, and later focuses on a few families and their extended family trees throughout the ages. He wonderfully illustrates the influences of the many cultures that make up the heart of America, using this one fictional town only as an example. A long read at over 900 pages, but worthwhile.(If you want, though, you can skip the second chapter about the land forming and dinosaurs wandering over the earth... It's pretty dull and has little bearing on the rest of the book.)
Rating: 
Summary: The History Stories you didn't read in High School Textbooks
Review: This was my first Michener...always wanted to read this one, but the size was intimidating. Finally got around giving it a shot! Overall, I enjoyed the experience! Some great stories about the "regular folks" that made the American West great.... struggles between Native American tribes and the white folks, to cattle driving, farming, and more, the characters in this book come to life. It is like you are there in the old west, on your own ranch! Most of the stories are excellent. My favorites include "The Wagon and the Elephant," the story of a falsely accused outcast from the east who moves west to start over, and "The Cowboys," a story about driving cattle from Texas to Colorado for the purpose of starting a profitable ranch. I'll agree with many people's comments that the second chapter can probably be skipped without missing much. It reads more like a college geology textbook, talking about the land formation history. It is relevant to some things that happen later in the book, but you won't miss out. The real stories here are with the people. I will admit that through the last 1/3 or so, it was getting long. Of course, a book like this could probably be even longer, I'm sure there are hundreds of interesting stories that could be told! Give it a try. If a particular story doesn't catch your interest within a few pages, skip it and try the next. Just give yourself the chance to be taken back to another time and place.
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