Gerry Max

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Author, Project Research and Consultant
Gerry Max, our consultant and the author of Horizon Chasers - The Lives and Adventures of Richard Halliburton and Paul Mooney (McFarland, c2007), has spoken on Richard Halliburton before live audiences and on public radio.   Appearing in The North Carolina Literary Review was his article "Richard Halliburton and Thomas Wolfe: When Youth Kept Open House" (the title after a poem by Rupert Brooke) (#5 1996).  Other articles by him have appeared on a variety of humanities-related topics.  Besides narrative fiction on various themes,  he has written a play about Richard Halliburton entitled Uncommon Courtesy (c2009). 
He collects and appraises rare books, including rare editions of Halliburton's books and those of other travel writers of Halliburton's era.  Currently he conducts writing workshops through the Continuing Education Department of the University of Wisconsin.  Over the years, he has also taught World History, often incorporating Richard Halliburton and the history of travel literature into his lectures.  Inspired by Halliburton's example, he has visited many parts of the globe associated with him as well as other figures from America's literary past. 

He holds a B.A. in History from Lawrence University, and an M. A. in Classics, a Ph. D. in Ancient History, and an M.L.S. in Library and Information Science from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He has been awarded post-doctoral fellowships to study at the University of California-Berkeley, University of California-Davis, and the Oriental Institute at the University of Chicago.  Strongly interested in 1920s/1930s' American culture, he has also been awarded the William B. Wisdom Grant-in-Aid of Research by the Thomas Wolfe Society to study at Harvard, and recently delivered a paper on poet Elinor Wylie (Rosalind Bailey in Wolfe's novel The Web and the Rock) at the Thomas Wolfe Society Conference in Savannah, Georgia.  With Carolyn Treanor he has conducted seminars on Richard Halliburton and the history of travel narrative at Bjorklunden, Lawrence University's  summer seminar retreat in Bailey's Harbor, Wisconsin.   Presently he is preparing a book on Richard Halliburton's last adventure, and is putting together the Gerry and Carole Max Archive of Richard Halliburton/Paul Mooney/William Alexander materials for the Richard Halliburton Collection at Rhodes College in Memphis.

The seeds of his interest in history and geography were first sown when, about four or five years old, he set eyes on the two Books of Marvels among his grandmother's books, and opened them to behold their dazzling pictures of faraway places.  He believes that, as a writer of a succession of best selling travel adventure books, and as a popular lecturer, Halliburton figured prominently in educating several generations of young Americans in the basics of geography, history, literature  and world culture, especially through his two Books of Marvels.  In his opinion, had Halliburton lived, he might very well have produced film lectures and, later, educational television features.  The whole world was to Halliburton his fatherland.  A modern Pied Piper, he urged that young people learn, before being led by others,  how to lead their own lives, and decide, before it is too late,  upon a course of far-ranging travel as a means to better self-knowledge, career choice, and spiritual enlightenment. 

Halliburton research continues to deepen and widen, Gerry notes.  New discoveries pertinent to Halliburton's life continue to be made.  New perspectives continue to come into play.  Richard Halliburton remains a congenial, well-informed guide to many places as they once were, and a most courteous escort into his own ever-relevant, most fascinating times.