Books with author E Rice Jr

With the exception of the Sioux, the Cheyenne are perhaps the best known of all the Plains Indians. Famous for their fighting qualities, they fought a series of unforgettable battles with the U.S. Army and white settlers seeking to seize their lands and alter their lifestyle. They claimed a place in history at the Powder River, the Rosebud, and the Little Bighorn. Against the irrepressible surge of U.S. westward expansion during the 1800s, Cheyenne warriors fought and died for the land they loved.-- Publisher's description.

On June 24, 1497, Italian navigator Giovanni Caboto better known as John Cabot became the first European of his day to record an official landing on the North American continent. Funded by British merchants and sailing under the English flag, Cabot claimed his discovery of the New founde land for England. His claim cleared the way for future English settlements in the New World. On his return voyage to Bristol, England, Cabot sailed his tiny ship Matthew through rich fishing grounds off the Newfoundland coast now known as the Grand Banks. His crew hauled in huge quantities of cod simply by lowering weighted baskets into the sea. This find led directly to the great rise of the Newfoundland cod fishery. Born around 1450, probably in Genoa, Italy, John Cabot lived at about the same time as Christopher Columbus. Like Columbus, Cabot sailed west to find a new route to China and Japan. He found the American continent instead.

Where are Gran Colombia, La Plata, and Dutch Guiana? And where are New Granada, the Isle of the True Cross, and the River of Silver? What makes them important? And why should anyone care about them? The answers to all these questions and many more nestle between the covers of this small book. Few things excite the imagination more than the lure of faraway places. The call of strange-sounding names stirs the spirit of adventure in even the most timid among us. Nothing unlocks new vistas like a fresh look at old times and places. So, delve into the pages of this fascinating mini-history of Latin America and fly down to Rio on the wings of imagination. Settle revolutions in New Spain. Chart the waters of the Spanish Main. And climb the mountains known as Andes. By journey s end you will find that big books sometimes come in small sizes.

Few things stir the imagination more than ghosts and ghostly sightings. The prospect of experiencing spectral encounters with visitors from another plane or dimension draws some 400,000 tourists to the windswept ridges of the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument every year. As most ghost hunters know, there is arguably no better place to ply their trade than the scene of violent action and the irreversible loss of life - the very definition of a battlefield. And the greasy-grass knolls of the Little Bighorn killing fields stand high on the list of haunted battlegrounds.Supernatural tales o spectral sightings from visitors and park employees alike lend an irresistible mystique to the Custer legend and to the battlefield itself. Such tales go back a long way. The Crow people are thought to be the first to experience paranormal happenings. They once called the park superintendent the ghost herder, because they believed the ghosts of the fallen arose from their graves at sundown and walked among the living until daybreak. If the stone grave markers at the Little Bighorn could talk, they would have many tales to tell. Are you ready to listen

More than a few art experts hail Giovanni Antonio Canal as one of the greatest artists of the eighteenth century. One writer of his time called him a happy genius, which was no exaggeration. The world knows him best as Canaletto. Born to a designer and painter of stage settings in 1697, Canaletto followed in his father s path and trained as a theatrical scene painter. He soon left the theater behind and became a vedutista a view painter. Venetians will remain forever grateful for his decision to change the direction of his artistic career. With brush and palette, he created a glittering vision of Venice that continues to define the splendor of that sun-drenched city of islands and lagoons. Canaletto took his talent abroad in 1746 and spent a decade in England, adding to his impressive body of work. But anyone who views his paintings and drawings will always associate him with Venice La Serenissima for Venice and Canaletto are one.

Terror has plagued the world since men in caves flailed away at each other with sticks and stones. Today, international terrorism has become a form of warfare. The U.S. Department of Defense defines terrorism as “the unlawful use of—or threatened use of—force or violence against individuals or property to coerce or intimidate governments or societies.” The American way of life changed forever when 19 Islamic terrorists flew fuel-laden aircraft—flying bombs—into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, DC, on September 11, 2001.

In January 2006, Palestinian voters shocked the Western world by giving Hamas a majority of seats in the parliamentary elections. Stunned Westerners found it hard to imagine how the blood-soaked Islamist terrorist organization could have won the support that brought it to power. Western thinkers found it harder yet to envisage how a Hamas government would play a positive role in Palestinian-Israeli relations. Hamas, an acronym for an Arab phrase meaning Islamic Resistance Movement, emerged from a Muslim Brotherhood branch in Palestine in 1987. At its birth, Hamas announced its intention to raise the banner of Allah over every inch of Palestine. It vowed to murder Jews across the world. Its charter declared, Allah as its goal, the Prophet [Muhammad] is the model, the Qur an its constitution, jihad its path, and death for the sake of Allah its most sublime belief. Since then, Hamas has left little doubt about its aims.

Hezbollah Lebanon s Party of Allah wears many faces. Founded by Muslim clerics following Israel s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, it is a powerful political party, a Shia Islamic religious and social movement, Lebanon s largest militia, and a close ally of Iran. Originally, Hezbollah s reason for being was to resist the Israel invaders. Over time, it grew from a small militia to a paramilitary group more powerful than the Lebanese Army. Trained and funded by Iran, it maintains close ties with its benefactor. As a political order, it holds seats with veto power in the Lebanese government. And as a religious and social movement, Hezbollah operates hospitals, clinics, schools, and centers for agricultural training and assistance. Eclipsing whatever good it may do for Lebanese citizens, Hezbollah is known best for the evil it does around the globe as one of the world s foremost terrorist groups. Some call it the Party of Satan.

Boko Haram is running wild, spreading death and destruction deep in the heart of Africa. Its very name has become a national symbol for fear in Nigeria. Allied with the Islamic State, and inspired by a distorted vision of a worldwide caliphate, the threat of its presence casts a dark shadow over the lives of all Nigerians within its grasp. And its grasp is spreading. Roughly translated, Boko Haram means Western education is forbidden. Its members abhor Western influence on traditional Islamic teachings and seek to suppress it. In their quest to establish a world ruled by Sharia (Islamic) law, they routinely kill or maim anything or anyone they consider un-Islamic. Boko Haram is most notorious for its kidnapping of nearly 300 schoolgirls in the town of Chibok in 2014. Most of the girls remain in captivity. The terrorist group has also carried out many bombings and murderous attacks on schools, churches, villages, police stations, and other targets.

The story of the brothers Custer, George, Tom, and Boston, reads like a Hollywood thriller almost too incredible to be true. George Armstrong Custer, known to family and friends as Autie, graduated last in his class from West Point. What Autie lacked in the classroom he made up for on the battlefields of the Civil War. He rose from a brash second lieutenant to a seasoned brevet lieutenant general and leader of thousands of Union cavalrymen. His heroics at Gettysburg turned the tide of battle for the North and likely saved the Union. Autie s brother, Thomas Ward Custer, or simply Tom, enlisted in the Union Army as a private. Tom s spectacular deeds of valor earned him a battlefield commission and not one but two Medals of Honor. Autie s youngest brother, Boston, was too young to serve in the Civil War, but he was not too young to join his older brothers in a date with fate on the Little Bighorn.