Glorious Adventure

Before the advent of television, before the global destruction of the Second World War, every American sat glued to the radio, eagerly listening for news of what crazy young Dick Halliburton had done next. They didn't have long to wait! Halliburton started entertaining the world in the early 1920s. The Glorious Adventure was his second book and details how he set out to follow in the path of Ulysses, that royal vagabond who mirrored Dick's own restlessness. The resultant book doesn't lack for excitement. It details how Halliburton roamed the Mediterranean Sea searching for adventure and romance, both of which he was happy to report were still in abundant supply. I thought of Ulysses and his stirring drama, and then looked at my own life, imprisoned by apartment walls, surrounded by self-satisfied people who were caught in the ruts of convention and responsibility. All that seemed drab. I had tasted the drug of romantic travel, and I could not rest from it Halliburton wrote before setting off for the blue Mediterranean. The Glorious Adventure is properly named, for seldom does one find a book so young in spirit and bubbling over with the joy of life.