All for the Union: The Civil War Diary & Letters of Elisha Hunt Rhodes
by Elisha Hunt Rhodes
from Vintage
All for the Union is the eloquent and moving diary of Elisha Hunt Rhodes, who enlisted into the Union Army as a private in 1861 and left it four years later as a 23-year-old lieutenant colonel after fighting hard and honorably in battles from Bull Run to Appomattox. Anyone who heard these diaries excerpted on the PBS-TV series The Civil War will recognize his accounts of those campaigns, which remain outstanding for their clarity and detail. Most of all, Rhodes's words reveal the motivation of a common Yankee foot soldier, an otherwise ordinary young man who endured the rigors of combat and exhausting marches, short rations, fear, and homesickness for a salary of $13 a month and the satisfaction of giving "all for the union."
The Vindication of Tradition: The 1983 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities
by Jaroslav Pelikan
from Yale University Press
Sons of Providence: The Brown Brothers, the Slave Trade, and the American Revolution
by Charles Rappleye
from Simon & Schuster
Sons of Providence paints a vivid portrait of Colonial life as we follow these founding brothers in their rise to the heights of American commerce and power and from revolution to nationhood.
John Townsend: Newport Cabinetmaker (Metropolitan Museum of Art Publications)
by Morrison H. Heckscher
from Metropolitan Museum of Art
The book opens with an overview of Newport and a discussion of other important cabinetmakers, including Job and Christopher Townsend, John’s father and uncle. John worked as an apprentice to his father before establishing his own shop when he was twenty-one. The catalogue section of this volume presents new color reproductions, including details of carving and construction and inscriptions and labels, of all thirty-five documented pieces by John Townsend. Comparative works by Christopher, Job, Job Jr., and Edmund Townsend as well as by John Goddard, another significant Newport cabinetmaker of the time, are also featured. Other documentation includes: a genealogical chart of the Townsend and Goddard families; wills and inventories of Christopher and John Townsend; a list of Townsend family furniture; names of John Townsend’s clients; and a list of all documented Newport furniture.
Herreshoff Sailboats
by Greg Jones
from MBI
The 1938 Hurricane Along New England's Coast (Images of America)
by Joseph P. Soares
from Arcadia Publishing
The Hurricane of 1938 was one of the most devastating storms to strike New England?s Atlantic coast. It forever changed the landscapes of cities and towns in its path. Throughout the hurricane, the Coast Guard worked tirelessly to provide aid to countless displaced residents. Entire communities were leveled by the hurricane?s powerful winds and waves. After the storm subsided and the destruction was evident, the enormous task of rebuilding began. The historic images in The 1938 Hurricane along New England?s Coast document the hurricane?s destruction and the ways in which victims who were uprooted by the storm united to rebuild their communities.
The Seventh Rhode Island Infantry in the Civil War
by Robert Grandchamp
from McFarland
Suffering a casualty rate of more than 80 percent by the war's end, the Seventh Rhode Island participated in some of the fiercest battles of the Civil War. From its muster in the fall of 1862 through the death of the Seventh's last surviving veteran in 1939, this regimental history follows the Seventh from Providence, Rhode Island, through the swamps of the Mississippi to the grueling Overland Campaign, providing a gripping historical narrative enlivened by the words of those who were actually present. Researched primarily from firsthand sources such as letters and diaries, it includes period photographs, portraits and sketches.
The Lost Colony of the Templars: Verrazano's Secret Mission to America
by Steven Sora
from Destiny Books
Reveals the existence of a Templar colony in the New World and how the explorer Verrazano, also a member of a secret society, attempted to reestablish contact with it
• Explores Columbus’s connection to Henry Sinclair’s maps of the New World
• Examines the secret alliance of Catholic Sulpicians and French Huguenots to preserve the Templar legacy
• Reveals the hidden knowledge preserved in the Templar baptisteries found throughout Europe and in Newport, Rhode Island
In 1524 the Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano was sent by the French king Francis I on an expedition ostensibly to find a shorter route to China. However, his true mission, Steven Sora suggests, was to contact a Templar colony that might have been established in Newport, Rhode Island, by Henry Sinclair at the end of the 14th century. In his expedition log Verrazano recorded that his only stay on this journey was at Newport Harbor, the site of a tower built to the exact measurements of a Templar baptistery, a sacred sanctuary representing baptism and eternal life.
This tower is a remnant of Sinclair’s voyage to America nearly a century before that of Columbus (who had access to Sinclair’s maps thanks to his wife, who was Sinclair’s great-granddaughter). While Verrazano’s mission succeeded in finding the tower, the colony itself eluded him. His backers then decided to resurrect the dream of Acadia--a place where they could aspire to higher knowledge without fear of Church or state--by creating a new Secret Society that included Huguenots and Catholic Sulpicians. This Company of the Holy Sacrament would lay the foundations for Montreal in an attempt to realize the ambitions of Sinclair and his Templar companions, as well as to stave off efforts by the Jesuits to transform Quebec into a fiefdom of the orthodox Church. Quebec’s motto, “Je me souviens” (I remember), is a reference to this secret history.
Roger Williams (Lives and Legacies)
by Edwin S. Gaustad
from Oxford University Press, USA
The founder of Rhode Island and of the first Baptist Church in America, an original and passionate advocate for religious freedom, a rare New England colonist who befriended Native Americans and took seriously their culture and their legal rights, Roger Williams is the forgotten giant among the first English colonists.
Now, Edwin S. Gaustad, a leading expert on the life of Roger Williams, offers a vividly written and authoritative biography of the most far-seeing of the early settlers--the first such biography written for a general audience. Readers follow Roger and Mary Williams on their 1631 journey to Boston, where he soon became embroiled in many controversies, most notably, his claim that the colonists had unjustly taken Native American lands and his argument that civil authorities could not enforce religious duties. Soon banished for these troubling (if farsighted) views, Williams wandered for fourteen weeks in bitter snow until he bought land from the Narragansett Indians and founded Providence, which soon became a sanctuary for religious freedom and a refuge for dissenters of all stripes. The book discusses Williams' journey back to London, where he sought legal recognition of his colony, spread his enlightened views on Native Americans, and (alongside John Milton) fought passionately for religious freedom. Gaustad also describes how the royal charter of Rhode Island, obtained by Williams in 1663, would become the blueprint of religious freedom for many other colonies and a foundation stone for the First Amendment.
Here then is a vibrant portrait of a great American who is truly worthy of remembrance.
Wildflowers of Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island in Color (Natural History)
by William K. Chapman
from Syracuse University Press
This field guide will give nature enthusiasts instant access to the diverse and beautiful flora of these New England states. Combining 400 color photographs with concise descriptions, it is written in easy-to-follow nontechnical language. Color illustrations have been carefully selected for their scientific accuracy and their aesthetic quality.
Comprehensive in scope, this guide book offers descriptions of commonly encountered, rare, and even protected species not seen in other guides. The authors provide keys to each species based on observable characteristics of color, flower shape, and leaf arrangement, allowing novices and experts alike to quickly identify flowers. Nomenclature has been updated to reflect current and correct usage.
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