Books: South Pacific Revisited

RETURN To PARADISE (437 pp.)—James A. fAichener—Random House ($3.50).

Most veterans have a sneaking desire to go back to the scenes of the war they knew. Short of a return to service, few get to do it, fewer still are paid to do it. Storyteller James A. Michener is one of the few. He was paid to go back to the South Pacific, wrote eight articles for Holiday magazine, which footed the bill. He also wrote Return to Paradise, based on the articles, and it is the May choice of the Book-of-the-Month Club.

Ex-Seaman Michener...