# James Michener’s ‘Centennial’ a must-read Colorado story

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/freedom-unaffiliated-6377441/james-michener-s-centennial-a-must-read-colorado-story
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/freedom-unaffiliated-6377441/james-michener-s-centennial-a-must-read-colorado-story.md
Podcast: [Freedom Unaffiliated](https://stenobird.com/podcast/freedom-unaffiliated-6377441)
Published: 2026-07-01T18:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://thinkfreedom.org
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/1144f3d4-0686-4238-8ebe-3ad20b4cdb4e.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/freedom-unaffiliated-6377441/episodes/james-michener-s-centennial-a-must-read-colorado-story
Duration seconds: 346

## Resource

If you’ve been reading my columns, you’ve noticed I’m basically illiterate. I blame my dyslexia and public education, but my Olympic-level laziness could be the driving factor. Anyway, I basically can’t read (and, still, I graduated from CU Boulder, so another endorsement of public higher education). So, for me to recommend a book is like a nun recommending sexy lingerie. How can you take it seriously? But how can it not get you thinking? As we celebrate Colorado’s 150th birthday, may I strongly suggest you read, or re-read, James Michener’s classic novel “ Centennial ,” which arguably presents one of the most accurate portraits of the Colorado character. A Colorado story I understand this is a sizable ask. The book is massive. Now that phonebooks are extinct, parents put “Centennial” on chairs for their little kids to reach the table. I listen to books on tape. So, when I saw this book took 50 hours, I almost went back to my comic book (which we now call “graphic novels,” like that is somehow going to impress women). It’s not that “Centennial” gives an accurate accounting of Colorado’s history, it doesn’t. It’s that it colors a painting of the true Colorado spirit and the bravery of those who built this beautiful, once rugged state. Michener masterfully shows our dry high-plains as a stage for life and death struggles. He describes the personalities that would say goodbye to all they knew to chance a survival in an untamed, savage and mysterious territory. If there was one word that encapsulated his story, it’s the same word that encapsulates what made Colorado the destination state for hundreds of years: risk. To modern generations “risk” is seen as “danger” or synonymous with gambling, a roll of the dice. But that’s not risk. “Risk” is the quest to manifest a goal o…

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## Transcript

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