A first-time author is coming to northern Colorado this weekend to present and sign copies of his new book, based on a late-1970s miniseries set and partially filmed in the area.
“Centennial Revisited: An Oral History of the Epic TV Miniseries” is based on the series “Centennial,” which is based on the 1974 novel of the same name, written by James Michener.
Michener was a graduate student at the University of Northern Colorado, and the school’s library now bears his name — and hosts some items that once belonged to him, including his false teeth.
Both the book and the series follow the history of the fictional town of Centennial, Colorado (the real city came years after and has no connection), following the town from prehistory until the mid-1970s.
The newest book, written by longtime journalist Perry Hibner, focuses on the 12-part, 26-hour miniseries originally broadcast on NBC from October 1978 to February 1979.
“‘Centennial Revisited’ is an oral history book,” Hibner said. “It contains approximately 75 interviews, more than 35 with cast, crew and other family members or friends of cast and crew. And then another 60 excerpts from primary papers.”
Interviews featured in the book include Mark Harmon, Barbara Carrera, Gregory Harrison, Stephen McHattie and more.
Hibner will kick off his book tour in Greeley from 2:30-4:30 p.m. Friday at the LINC Library Innovation Center, 501 8th Ave.
“I’m going to talk about the book first, because there may be people who come out who don’t want to buy right now, but just want to hear the stories and that’s fine,” Hibner said. “I want to interact with ‘Centennial’ fans because I’m a fan as well. Then I’m going to answer whatever questions people have. I’ll also have copies to sell and I’ll sign them if people want.”
In an oral history book, instead of the author crafting the narrative using interviews, the interviews are the narrative. The book is a collection of transcripts from those involved and around the series, as well as excerpts from newspapers and other outlets that covered the series.
Hibner primarily chose to present the story like this because he could assure his interviewees there would be no narrative to take their words out of context.
“I didn’t use everything that everybody shared with me,” Hibner said. “But if I used it, it was going to be exactly what they said. Because these people didn’t know me. When I started, I had no relationship with any of them. They had to trust that I was going to be faithful to what they shared. And I think they appreciated that.”
It also allowed for easy formatting once all the interviews were done. Hibner said it only took about “two or three weeks” to compile everything.
“The questions I asked, in essence, became the chapters of the book,” Hibner said. “There’s a chapter about the living cast talking about how they got their parts. Then, there’s a chapter where the living cast members talk about the members who have passed. There’s a chapter about the legacy of the mini series in terms of the actors’ careers and the mini series itself.”
Hibner originally set out to break the book into 12 chapters — or episodes as he refers to them — to match the 12 parts of the series, but added a 13th chapter after getting back 27 single-spaced pages worth of answers from director John Wilder.
“He was the godfather, if you will, of this whole thing,” Hibner said. “The 13th chapter/episode, which I called ‘Genesis,’ is where he walks us through how they were able to get this thing done. It’s so much behind-the-scenes stuff that I thought the true fans of ‘Centennial’ would appreciate that.”
Some true fans of “Centennial” actually inspired Hibner to write the book in the first place.
The idea came to him in late 2024, he said, after reading a Greeley Tribune article about a group of “Centennial” fans who came from around the United States — and even further — to tour many places where the book was set and the series was filmed. He went on to speak with many of those in the group when putting his book together.
Hibner will also be at the Voices of Colorado book fair from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday in Loveland and afterward at Book Fest in Fort Collins, as well as from 10 a.m. to noon Sunday at Books on Main in Fort Morgan.
Hibner will have copies for sale at all of his appearances this weekend. The book is also available to purchase at PerryHibner.com.
