Ed Rice
Encyclopedia
Edward "Ed" Rice was an American
author, publisher, photojournalist and painter, best known as a close friend and biographer of Thomas Merton
. Rice wrote more than 20 books, including Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, a best-selling 1990 biography of the famous 19th-century explorer, and was the founder (1953) of Jubilee magazine.
Rice attended Columbia University
, where he become close friends with Merton, Robert Lax
, and Robert Giroux
(who later co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux
). Rice was editor of the Jester
humor magazine in his senior year; he graduated in 1940.
Rice chronicled his friendship with Merton in the 1970 book The Man in the Sycamore Tree: The Good Times and Hard Life of Thomas Merton. Also in 1970, he published John Frum He Come, a book documenting the South Pacific cargo cult
s -- a subject Merton was also interested in.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author, publisher, photojournalist and painter, best known as a close friend and biographer of Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton
Thomas Merton, O.C.S.O. was a 20th century Anglo-American Catholic writer and mystic. A Trappist monk of the Abbey of Gethsemani, Kentucky, he was a poet, social activist, and student of comparative religion...
. Rice wrote more than 20 books, including Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton, a best-selling 1990 biography of the famous 19th-century explorer, and was the founder (1953) of Jubilee magazine.
Rice attended Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, where he become close friends with Merton, Robert Lax
Robert Lax
Robert Lax was an American poet, known in particular for his association with famed 20th century Trappist monk and writer Thomas Merton. A third friend of his youth, whose work sheds light on both Lax and Merton, was Ad Reinhardt. During the latter period of his life, Lax resided on the island of...
, and Robert Giroux
Robert Giroux
Robert Giroux was an influential American book editor and publisher. Starting his editing career with Harcourt, Brace & Co., he was hired away to work for Roger W. Straus, Jr. at Farrar & Straus in 1955, where he became a partner and, eventually, its chairman...
(who later co-founded Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Farrar, Straus and Giroux is an American book publishing company, founded in 1946 by Roger W. Straus, Jr. and John C. Farrar. Known primarily as Farrar, Straus in its first decade of existence, the company was renamed several times, including Farrar, Straus and Young and Farrar, Straus and Cudahy...
). Rice was editor of the Jester
Jester of Columbia
The Jester of Columbia, or simply the Jester, is a humor magazine at Columbia University in New York City. Founded on April Fool's Day, 1901, it is one of the oldest such publications in the United States....
humor magazine in his senior year; he graduated in 1940.
Rice chronicled his friendship with Merton in the 1970 book The Man in the Sycamore Tree: The Good Times and Hard Life of Thomas Merton. Also in 1970, he published John Frum He Come, a book documenting the South Pacific cargo cult
Cargo cult
A cargo cult is a religious practice that has appeared in many traditional pre-industrial tribal societies in the wake of interaction with technologically advanced cultures. The cults focus on obtaining the material wealth of the advanced culture through magic and religious rituals and practices...
s -- a subject Merton was also interested in.
External links
- Ed Rice profile by Mary Cummings, published in the Columbia alumni magazine, May 2001
- Obituary