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Centennial is one of James Mitchener’s historical novel, published in 1974. The novel traces the history of the northeast Colorado plains from prehistory until the early 1970s, set in the fictional town of Centennial, which nonetheless bear striking resemblance to modern day Weld County. town of Greeley, Colorado.
Unlike Mitchner’s other historical novels like Texas and Alaska which are based purely on facts, in Centennial, Mitchener mixes history and fiction. Many episodes are nevertheless loosely based on actual historical events in eastern Colorado and southeast Wyoming, but Mitchner has brought them to a single location. One example is the Sand Creek Massacre of Kiowa County, Colorado in 1864, which Mitchner covers, but based in his fictional Centennial town. Each episode has a different protagonist, but the episodes and age, true to Mitchner’s traditional style blend seamlessly making the work a solid narrative historical fiction.
Centennial was made into a popular twelve-part television miniseries aired on NBC in 1978-1979 period. In 2008, NBC marketed this television serial as a six volume DVD.