Bill Short, associate director of the library at Rhodes, worked with author R. Scott Williams on his new book titled The Forgotten Adventures of Richard Halliburton, From Tennessee to Timbuktu. Short oversees Rhodes’ Halliburton collection and will join Williams at The Booksellers of Laurelwood on Nov. 15 at 2 p.m. for a book signing and brief discussion of the book.
Halliburton was born in Brownsville, TN., in 1900 and raised in Memphis. At the age of 19, he left home and became an adventurer. From climbing Mount Olympus in Greece, to swimming the Panama Canal, to literally flying all the way to Timbuktu, Halliburton experienced and wrote about his adventures. He disappeared in 1939 during a typhoon in the Pacific Ocean.
Williams′ book explores his dramatic rise to fame and the cultural changes taking place in the United States that contributed to his successes and tragic failures. It includes never-before-published photos, rare letters, memorabilia, and documents.
Along with the book, Williams has launched a website, HalliburtonBook.com. The book is scheduled to be available at HistoryPress.net and on Amazon.com Nov. 5.