adult fiction: story is same place, different times; Michener? 70-80's?

I only have second-hand information, so forgive me if I stumble horribly here.

My husband read a book about 20-30 years ago, which he thinks is by James Michener.

The story is about one particular place, but through a lens of different times. So, basically, you get a huge history of one place.

Any ideas?

Maybe Centennial?

I think several of Michener's books would fit that description. How about The Source?

Many if not most of Michener's novels do this sort of thing, including:

Caribbean, Mexico, Texas, The Covenant, Chesapeake, Poland, Hawaii, The Drifters ....

So, we might need a bit more info to go on than that. Any other details about what kind of place it was, or even what continent it was on, ha?

*edited to fix touchstones*

And Alaska...

Reminds me most of The Source.

Also if the Michener thing is shaky, look into Edward Rutherford, (no touch stone so here's a link to his author page-http://www.librarything.com/author/rutherfurdedward ). He writes histories of real places through time by writing about fictional families.

Edited to add link and also more info - Sarum about Salisbury is one title I remember, he also wrote books set in Russia; London; Dublin and The New Forest.

Rutherford would work for 20 years ago, but not 30. Sarum was published in 1987, and some of the others much more recently.

fig2,

Can't he remember anything else to give us a clue? In what country the place was, if it was an exotic location, or a major city, or a US state? Have you tried having him take a look at the descriptions of Michener books?

I see that Michener is a problem; all of his books are like that!

I'll have to ask my husband again, but his brain capacity is pretty full with musical scores and sports trivia. ;)

The problem is that I wanted to get it for him as a gift, so I'm reluctant to let him know that I'm even thinking about it...

Curses!

It was The Source. Thanks for all the replies.

Was he surprised?