World War One - Free Thinking - The Thirty-Nine Steps
Download Free Thinking - The Thirty-Nine Steps
John Buchan's The Thirty-Nine Steps first appeared in Blackwoods Magazine in August and September 1915 and depicts Europe on the edge of war in May and June 1914. It quickly became popular reading in the trenches and on the home front, and 100 years and three film adaptations later, its popularity is enduring.
Matthew Sweet talks to biographer Andrew Lownie and scholars Dr Michael Redley and Dr Kate Macdonald about the connections between Buchan's own war experience and The 39 Steps, and to Professors Elleke Boehmer and Terence Ranger about how ideas about empire and adventure play out in the novel.
Published on Wednesday, 2nd July 2014.
Available Podcasts from World War One
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