Universally revered novelist James A. Michener wrote such books as the Pulitzer Prize-winning Tales of the South Pacific, the monumental bestsellers Hawaii, Texas, The Covenant, and The Source, as well as the memoir The World Is My Home. An outstanding academic, editor, and citizen, he served on the advisory council to NASA and the International Broadcast Board, which oversees the Voice of America. He received America's highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and an award from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities for his commitment to art in America. He died on October 16, 1997.