Books with author Ronald A. Reis

Born into a wealthy Venezuelan Creole family, Sim n Bol var grew up petulant, capricious, bossy, and accustomed to getting his own way at every turn. By the age of 22, however, he had matured to the point of committing to the liberation of northern South America from Spanish rule. To do so, the George Washington of Latin American independence, known as El Libertador, traveled 20,000 miles on horseback and fought in almost 300 battles and skirmishes. One of the greatest military geniuses of all time, Bol var, at his peak, controlled close to three million square miles in South America, more than Eastern and Western Europe combined. Yet, at the time of his death, when seeking voluntary exile from the land of his birth, Bol var was denounced as a demagogue by elites of the six countries he had liberated. Nonetheless, Sim n Bol var lives today in the hearts of millions of Latin Americans who see El Liberator as a hero. This new biography of Sim n Bol var includes engaging text, photographs, and illustrations, as well as reference features such as a chronology and timeline, further resources, and an index for quick reference.

In 1933, in his first inaugural address, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt declared, ... the only thing we have to fear is fear itself... Yet, Roosevelt knew that the fear he spoke of was grounded in reality. With one-third of the nation's workforce unemployed, grown men scrounged in garbage cans for discarded scraps to feed their families. Six thousand street-corner apple vendors sold their product in New York City alone. Fear, indeed, stocked the land of the 1930s during Great Depression a defining event of 20th-century America. With the introduction of Roosevelt's New Deal, many families found relief through public works projects and other government-funded posts. The Great Depression and the New Deal describes how the nation coped and how it overcame a true national calamity.

Born in South Dakota in 1831, Sitting Bull was given his father's name after killing his first buffalo as a teenager. Sitting Bull witnessed the downfall of his people's way of life after the California gold rush of 1849 and the opening up of the West by the railroad. After he was wounded in battle, his views hardened about the presence of whites in Sioux land. He began to assume an uncompromising militancy that would characterize the rest of his life. Developing into one of the most important chiefs, Sitting Bull was able to unite a multitude of Sioux bands and other tribes at his camp, which continually expanded as the tribes sought safety in numbers. It was this camp that General George Armstrong Custer found on June 25, 1876, when he led the 7th Cavalry advance party to the Little Big Horn River. Sitting Bull, who had seen a vision of this attack during a tribal dance, and his people were able to defeat Custer and his men, but their victory was short-lived as thousands more outraged soldiers pursued the Sioux, forcing their surrender. This brave warrior was finally brought down in 1890 by tribal police who had been sent to arrest him. In Sitting Bull, read about a man who refused to back down from his convictions, even when they brought him face to face with the United States Calvary.

William "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a "boy extra," a bullwhacker, cattle driver, hunter, and an American Indian fighter on the Great Plains of the 1850s, all before becoming a teenager. He claimed to have killed nearly 5,000 buffalo to supply construction crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad. In time, trading on his fame as Buffalo Bill and as a Pony Express rider, the then-Army scout transformed himself into a showman extraordinaire with the establishment of his Wild West arena extravaganza. The Wild West—part circus, part rodeo, part history—toured for three decades, playing to enthusiastic crowds across the United States and Europe. For a time, Buffalo Bill Cody was possibly the most famous man in the world. Though Cody made huge sums with the Wild West show, he died a poor man in 1917. With this new biography, readers can explore Buffalo Bill Cody's life, his legacy, and his personification of the myth of the American West.

Born into a wealthy Venezuelan Creole family, Sim n Bol var grew up petulant, capricious, bossy, and accustomed to getting his own way at every turn. By the age of 22, however, he had matured to the point of committing to the liberation of northern South America from Spanish rule. To do so, the George Washington of Latin American independence, known as El Libertador, traveled 20,000 miles on horseback and fought in almost 300 battles and skirmishes. One of the greatest military geniuses of all time, Bol var, at his peak, controlled close to three million square miles in South America, more than Eastern and Western Europe combined. Yet, at the time of his death, when seeking voluntary exile from the land of his birth, Bol var was denounced as a demagogue by elites of the six countries he had liberated. Nonetheless, Sim n Bol var lives today in the hearts of millions of Latin Americans who see El Liberator as a hero. This new biography of Sim n Bol var includes engaging text, photographs, and illustrations, as well as reference features such as a chronology and timeline, further resources, and an index for quick reference.

Unlike most boys growing up, Valentino Garavani never wanted to be a fireman, a policeman, a forest ranger, or an airline pilot. Imbued with an aesthetic sense and love of beauty from an early age, the future Italian haute couture dress designer knew where his destiny lay in making women stunningly gorgeous by dressing them in the most refined, elegant, and exclusive garments imaginable. To achieve his dream, Valentino left Italy at the age of 17 for Paris, the capital of post-World War II high fashion. Ten years later, he was in business for himself, and nine years after that, he was designing wedding dresses for such high-profile individuals as Jackie Kennedy Onassis. Valentino was soon creating evening gowns for international socialites and Hollywood movie stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Julia Roberts, Sophia Loren, Audrey Hepburn, and many more. With lifelong personal and professional partner Giancarlo Giammetti, the House of Valentino went on to achieve stunning artistic and financial success. No one, it has been said, lived like Valentino, whose search for beauty led inexorably to la dolce vita, the "sweet life." Valentino covers the life of this fashion designer, from his upbringing in Italy to how he managed his successful career.