Ed Morris

Ed Morris is a veteran reporter for two Connecticut newspapers and was a correspondent for the United Press International's Berlin Bureau just before the construction of the Berlin Wall by Communist East Germany. A graduate of Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, he has also served as a tour guide for several Newport historical organizations for many years. As a step-on bus guide for cruise ship visitors to Newport he developed this coachman's script twelve years ago. After showing it to Pieter Roos, then education director of the Newport Historical Society, he was hired to research Newport's Cliff Walk and give tours to Newport tourists for six years. That tour , published as A Guide to Newport's Cliff Walk, has sold over seven thousand copies. This companion volume is enlivened with more stories about those rogues and heroes of Newport's Gilded Age. Morris has made extensive use of the Newport Historical Society's research facilities, printed reports and many other sources, but the responsibility for the material contained herein is his own. Here is a Reader's Preview of Author's Companion Books: "Rogues & Heroes of Newport's Gilded Age" provides insights into the early Colonial world of Newport, R.I., and then into its development into the summer resort for wealthy New York millionaires of the Industrial Revolution, where they played tennis, golf and polo, and sailed their fabulous yachts! Author Ed Morris wrote this new book as a companion piece to his "A Guide To Newport's Cliff Walk," which has 48 color photos and five areal maps, and has sold more than 7,000 copies. The new "Rogues & Heroes" book with its 57 photos is also a coachman's guide to other summer palaces not on Cliff Walk--as well as insights into the operational practices of such architects as Richard Hunt, Charles McKim and Stanford White and wealthy clients like Mrs Astor.