RICE, Earle (Wilmont), Jr. 1928-

Personal

Born October 21, 1928, in Lynn, MA; son of Earle, Sr. (a musician and employee of General Electric) and Grace (a homemaker; maiden name, Nottingham) Rice; married Georgia Joy Black Wood (a weaver and homemaker), November 1, 1958; children: Ellen Jean, Earle Rice III. Ethnicity: "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant." Education: Attended San Jose City College, 1958-60, and Foothill College, 1970-71. Politics: Independent. Religion: Protestant. Hobbies and other interests: Reading, televised sports.

Addresses

Home and office— P.O. Box 2131, Julian, CA 92036-2131.

Career

Worked as a designer, technical writer, and senior design engineer in the aerospace, electronics, and nuclear industries, 1960-93; freelance writer, 1993—. Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, 1948-57, received Purple Heart.

Member

Cross & Cockade International, Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, League of World War I Aviation Historians, U.S. Naval Institute, Air Force Association.

Writings

FICTION

Tiger, Lion, Hawk, Fearon Pitman (Belmont, CA), 1977.

The Animals (also published as Escape or Die ), Fearon Pitman (Belmont, CA), 1979.

Death Angel, Pitman Learning (Belmont, CA), 1981.

Fear on Ice, Pitman Learning (Belmont, CA), 1981.

More than Macho, Pitman Learning (Belmont, CA), 1981.

The Gringo Dies at Dawn, Fearon/Janus/Quercus (Belmont, CA), 1993.

(Reteller) Bram Stoker, Dracula, Globe Fearon (Belmont, CA), 1995.

(Reteller) Erich Remarque, All Quiet on the Western Front, Globe Fearon (Belmont, CA), 1995.

(Reteller) John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Globe Fearon (Belmont, CA), 1996.

NONFICTION

The Final Solution, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

Nazi War Criminals, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

The Third Reich: Demise of the Nazi Dream ("History's Great Defeats" series), Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

The Cold War: Collapse of Communism ("History's Great Defeats" series), Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

Sir Francis Drake: Navigator and Pirate, Benchmark Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Korea 1950: From Pusan to Chosin, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2003.

Claire Chennault: Flying Tiger ("Famous Flyers" series), Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2003.

Manfred von Richthofen: The Red Baron ("Famous Flyers" series), Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2003.

Point of No Return: Tonkin Gulf and the Vietnam War, Morgan Reynolds (Greensboro, NC), 2003.

Alexandra David-Néel: Explorer at the Roof of the World, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

"WORLD HISTORY" SERIES

The Cuban Revolution, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1995.

The Battle of the Little Bighorn, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

The Bombing of Pearl Harbor, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2001.

"BATTLE" SERIES

The Battle of Belleau Wood: Battles of World War I, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1996.

The Battle of Britain: Battles of World War II, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1996.

The Battle of Midway: Battles of World War II, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1996.

The Inchon Invasion: Battles of the Twentieth Century, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1996.

The Attack on Pearl Harbor: Battles of World War II, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1997.

The Tet Offensive: Battles of the Twentieth Century, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1997.

"FAMOUS TRIALS" SERIES

The Nuremberg Trials, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1997.

The Salem Witch Trials, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1997.

The O. J. Simpson Trial, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1997.

"LIFE" SERIES

Life among the Great Plains Indians, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

Life during the Crusades, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

Life during the Middle Ages, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 1998.

"AMERICAN WAR LIBRARY" SERIES

Kamikazes, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

Strategic Battles in Europe, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

Strategic Battles in the Pacific, Lucent Books (San Diego, CA), 2000.

"BATTLES THAT CHANGED THE WORLD" SERIES

Gettysburg, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2002.

Normandy, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2002.

The First Battle of the Marne, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2002.

"GREAT MILITARY LEADERS OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY" SERIES

Erwin J. E. Rommel, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

George S. Patton, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

Douglas MacArthur, Chelsea House (Philadelphia, PA), 2004.

Work in Progress

Six Came Through: Down the Colorado with Powell, for Ithaca Media; Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, and Genghis Khan, for Morgan Reynolds.

Sidelights

Earle Rice, Jr., is the author of numerous nonfiction history books for students. Many of them are about battles, famous generals, and other such military subjects—topics Rice learned about while serving in the Marines—but he has also written on historical events and figures from the Salem witch trials to explorer Sir Francis Drake. His books are often praised for their meticulous research and their objectivity, both of which are particularly important when dealing with still-controversial twentieth-century subjects such as the Vietnam War and the fall of the Soviet Union. His book Point of No Return: Tonkin Gulf and the Vietnam War received particular attention. Although historians still disagree about what actually happened in the Gulf of Tonkin in early August, 1964, Rice "objectively explains the motivations" of the American and North Vietnamese governments "and encourages readers to make up their own minds about what really happened," Mary Mueller wrote in School Library Journal. Booklist contributor Ed Sullivan deemed Point of No Return a "thorough, well-researched book" and "an excellent study of a pivotal event in American history."

Rice has also written extensively on World War II and the Holocaust. His most wide-ranging book may be Third Reich: Demise of the Nazi Dream, which tackles not only the military failures of Nazi Germany but also its social and economic weaknesses. In School Library Journal, Mueller called the book "well-written [and] readable" and commented that the work "will help students make the connections between Hitler's leadership and the ultimate defeat of Nazism." Although Rice takes an objective stance about the strengths and weaknesses of the Nazi military, he is clearly disapproving of the Nazis' ideology and of Hitler personally. "Descriptions of Hitler are emotionally charged and often interesting," Roger Leslie commented in Booklist.

Rice once told SATA: "I guess I decided to become a writer while still a child, swinging on a swing and daydreaming the hours away. After spending the next thirty-five or forty years preparing myself—nine years in the Marine Corps, the remainder as a dishwasher, letter carrier, draftsman, designer, technical writer, electromechanical design checker, and senior design engineer—I began to write.

"I now write six to eight hours a day, seven days a week, about subjects I find fascinating and irresistible, hoping to share some of my enthusiasm for my topics with readers. If my work both entertains and informs, and I hope it does, I can ask for little more.

"Advice for new writers and illustrators? Milton Caniff, the late, incredibly talented creator of 'Terry and the Pirates,' 'Male Call,' and 'Steve Canyon' comic strips, once said, 'You can't ink-in with a swizzle stick,' meaning that you can't sit at some country club bar and get any work done. To learn the craft and get published, only one word comes to mind: WRITE! There's no other way."

Biographical and Critical Sources

PERIODICALS

Booklist, March 15, 1997, Julie Corsaro, review of The Nuremberg Trials, p. 1235; October 1, 1997, Hazel Rochman, review of The Final Solution and Nazi War Criminals, p. 314; March 15, 1998, Carolyn Phelan, review of Life during the Crusades, p. 1233; January 1, 2000, Mary Romano Marks, review of Kamikazes, p. 890; October 15, 2000, Roger Leslie, review of The Third Reich: Demise of the Nazi Dream, p. 450; November 1, 2000, Randy Meyer, review of The Cold War: Collapse of Communism, p. 524; September 1, 2003, Ed Sullivan, review of Point of No Return: Tonkin Gulf and the Vietnam War, p. 77.

Publishers Weekly, November 27, 1995, p. 63.

School Library Journal, September, 1981, Jeanette A. Studley, review of Fear on Ice, p. 122; March, 1995, Marilyn Long Graham, review of The Cuban Revolution, p. 233; February, 1996, David A. Lindsey, review of The Battle of Midway: Battles of World War II, p. 119; March, 1997, David A. Lindsey, review of The Nuremberg Trials, p. 207; April, 1997, Marilyn Fairbanks, review of The O. J. Simpson Trial, pp. 155-156; August, 1997, Elizabeth M. Reardon, review of The Tet Offensive: Battles of the Twentieth Century, p. 174; September, 1997, Marcia W. Posner, review of The Final Solution, p. 236; February, 1998, David A. Lindsey, review of Nazi War Criminals, p. 122; April, 1998, Loriene Roy, review of Life among the Great Plains Indians, p. 153; May, 1998, David N. Pauli, review of Life during the Crusades, p. 159; February, 2000, Andrew Medlar, review of Kamikazes, p. 134; September, 2000, Mary Mueller, review of The Third Reich, p. 254; December, 2000, Elizabeth Talbot, review of The Cold War, p. 164; September, 2002, L. R. Little, review of The First Battle of the Marne, pp. 250-251; June, 2003, Kathleen A. Nester, review of Sir Frances Drake: Navigator and Pirate, p. 160; November, 2003, Mary Mueller, review of Point of No Return, p. 166; February, 2004, Mary Mueller, review of Douglas MacArthur, p. 167.