Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of John Buchan, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 4533 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery. follows 39 Steps and GreenmantleDownload Description
In Mr Standfast (1919), the third of the four novels featuring Richard Hannay, we meet again Pieter Pienaar and John S. Blenkiron, who are joined by the spirited Mary Lamington. It is 1917 and Hannay is brought out of the battlefield to perform the desperate task of tracking down and destroying a network of German spies. Hannay's opponent is Morton Ivery, the bland master of disguise, who seeks to outwit Hannay as he and his agents are pursued through England, Scotland, France, and Switzerland. For its pace and suspense, its changes of scene, and thrilling descriptions of the last great battles against the Germans, Mr Standfast offers everything that has made its author so enduringly popular. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Richard Hannay, WWI-era British secret agent, saves the day
Many spy novels follow the formula set down by John Buchan at the end of WWI - exotic locations, powerful and dangerous enemies, damsels in distress, and secret plots to dominate the world.Buchan's fictitious protagonist, South African Richard Hannay, once did a job for His Majesty's gov't before the war.Now, they've asked for his help again.

Hannay is tasked with going undercover to penetrate a nest of peaceful war objectors to ferret out its suspected German ringleaders.Before long, thanks to Hannay's speaking skills, he is accepted into their group as a persuasive, but simple, speaker.Trailing mysterious figures across the English and Scottish countrysides, literally running into war movie film sets, and escaping on the wings of the wind are just part and parcel of being a secret agent deep undercover.Wanted by both German agents and the local police forces, Hannay may be the hunted, but he is still their hunter as well.However, despite busting the ring and foiling their plan the evil ringleader, Gresson, gets away.

And so Hannay returns to his job in the army rising to brigadier general when he receives the call to secret service again.This time Gresson lurks much closer behind the French lines, but remains carefully hidden.Only his saboteur agents seem to be leaving their mark.Hannay amazingly encounters Mary - his true love - breaking into the same suspicious looking chateau as he.Together they join forces to break up Gresson's fiendish plot before it is sprung.However, Hannay is tricked and Mary is captured.Again, like many spy novels after it, the hero is imprisoned in a diabolical way with the villain leaving the hero unattended.However, like always the hero manages to break free, just.In the mountains of Switzerland there still remain a few twists and turn yet to remain.

The action in the book is fairly fast-moving, but the characters are purely two-dimensional and the plot is highly predictable.Just like a 007 movie.Reading the book, though, I wasn't able to really get into it, except for a few of the scenes in the first half of the book and the Swiss episode in the last half.A much better series that takes place in the same era is Reilly: Ace of Spies, who is a British spy working in Wilhelmine Germany.Overall, this is a decent book, which serves as a prototype of many spy novels thereafter, especially the sexier James Bond series.

Best. Spy. Story. EVER.
This is my favourite Buchan book of them all! Although not as tightly-plotted as Greenmantle and The Thirty-Nine Steps, its predecessors in the series, it's still a nail-bitingly exciting adventure story sure to have you hooked for most of the first half and the whole second half. In Part One, Hannay spends some time with artistic types very familiar to those of us who enjoy 'lowbrow' fare, and then spends some time in radical political circles in Glasgow. Although it can be slow, there's lashings of satire to keep you chuckling. Then the plot begins to move--through the Scottish Highlands in a sequence akin to The Thirty-Nine Steps, but with far more characterisation and philosophy than the earlier book. During this time, Hannay realises that he's in love, pretends to be drunk, and impersonates a movie director. (No, it's not one of those spy novels with miserable characters and a depressing plot, in case you were wondering.)

The second half, however, is peerless. The stakes rise, the scene shifts to the battlefields of Europe, and the adventure is non-stop. Hannay must outwit a foe far more intelligent and ruthless than himself, try to pick up the courage to propose to lovely, clever young Mary Lamington, and manage to survive a brutal war. The climax is breathtaking and actually has you fearing for the outcome; moreover, it shows that Buchan was not in fact blissfully unaware of the horrors of trench warfare as many people, reading his optimistic work today, would think.

Superlative thriller!
In the first quarter or so of this book, I was afraid I had been duped.I found myself grumbling about how the definition of "thriller" had changed over the last 90 years.Then, somehow, mysteriously, I fell under Buchan's and Hannay's spell.I realized what a wonderful period piece this book is, and how well it captures the tense situation of the Great War.Furthermore, Buchan's writing has true literary value -- he was extremely well grounded in classical literature, English literature, and the Bible, and they all shine forth in this book.This thriller of Buchan's has deserved to stand the test of time.Now, ask yourself, do you really think that will be true of Tom Clancy?

Terrific espionage thriller -- James Bond without the girls
For those who like good, clean spy-type fun, this is a SUPERLATIVE work.Part three in the adventures of Richard Hannay (which started with Buchan's well-known "Thirty-nine Steps"), this is a first-rate thriller set on the eve of World War I, with plenty of atmosphere and hair-breadthescapes, plus an excellent dogfight climax in the skies over France.Alongwith everything else, it has some sound theological reflections (the titlebeing a character from "Pilgrim's Progress") about courage andfortitude.Highly recommended. ... Read more

Book Description
This book was converted from its physical edition to the digital format by a community of volunteers. You may find it for free on the web. Purchase of the Kindle edition includes wireless delivery.Download Description
My arm was too short to make a fighter of me, and I could only strive to close, that I might get the use of my weight and my great strength of neck and shoulder. Ringan danced round me, tapping me lightly on nose and cheek, but hard enough to make the blood flow, I defended myself as best I could, while my temper rose rapidly and made me forget my penitence. Time and again I looked for a chance to slip in, but he was as wary as a fox, and was a yard off before I could get my arm round him. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An enthralling saga about one man's struggle to survive
A novel set during the beginning of the Jamestown Colony, Salute To Adventurers is an enthralling saga about one man's struggle to survive and even find love in a land beset by trade controls with England enforced by pirates, religious strife manifested through a fanatic who stirs Indian tribes to attack settlers, harsh environmental conditions, the unending chores of daily life, and much more. Painting a vivid picture of what it was once like to earn a living in untamed lands, Salute To Adventure is an exciting chronicle featuring conflicts of man vs. nature and man vs. man alike. Action, self-discovery, and the resolve to make the most of one's life distinguish this involving narrative.
... Read more

Book Description
The major biography of one of Scotland's most enigmatic and underrated writers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Review extracts
Mr Coker is entitled to his views but Amazon readers should be aware that all five editions of the biography received extremely favourable coverage. A selection of extracts follows:

"Andrew Lownie gives us a clear account of Buchan's career, which rattles along as pacily as a Hannay thriller...Admirably readable, this book will be invaluable to those who are now encountering Buchan's work for the first time in the World's Classics and Penguin reprints which have begun to appear since his copyrights entered the public domain in 1990. Lownie's lucid account of Buchan's life redefines the man as infinitely more complex than we thought he was." Sunday Times

"This, like many other questions about this amazing man, is answered by Andrew Lownie in his wonderful new life. Lownie explains, even more convincingly than Janet Adam Smith in the hitherto standard biography, how Buchan's successes in life never satisfied his inner yearnings...Lownie explains this inner sense of failure of this exceptional man with vastly greater insight than any previous writer...Trumpets should now sound for Buchan; and I will sound one of my own for Andrew Lownie, who has brought this most extraordinary man to life in a way no previous writer has."The Independent

"Lownie's meticulous biography is particularly good on the financial pressures which influenced most of Buchan's decisions...This formidably detailed study is a labour of love by a devoted Buchanite, a nuanced understanding of a figure who, for too long, has been regarded as an extension of his fictional heroes."The Guardian

"Andrew Lownie offers a solid and convincing portrait of a complex man, and controls the innumerable aspects of Buchan's life in an exemplary manner, without losing sight of the fact that Buchan was, in Simon Raven's words, 'a very odd fish indeed.'" Times Literary Supplement

"Andrew Lownie's meticulously researched and attractively written new biography - the first since Janet Adam Smith's in 1965 - presents us with a John Buchan who is a great deal more complex and nuanced than might be imagined from the assiduously self-promoted clubland hero persona Buchan himself created in his rise as public man and heartily outdoor countryman-author...Lownie is sympathetic to Buchan, but this is by no means a hagiography. With scrupulous honesty, Buchan's faults and foibles are exposed to us along with his undoubted virtues...this exemplary biography, full of new insights and fresh documents unearthed and published for the first time, makes fascinating reading."The Scotsman.

"Lownie's study is equally well argued and written with an evident, though at times exasperated, fondness for his subject." Scotland on Sunday

"He has been the subject of previous biographies, but Andrew Lownie's is a welcome addition...Mr Lownie has done him proud." Financial Times

"Brilliantly written and researched - and the first biography of Buchan in 30 years - Lownie draws on newly-released private papers to astutely pick his way through the public image and the passionately private man, painting a vivid and refreshingly readable literary portrait of one of the great unacknowledged and substantive figures in recent Scottish life." Catholic Life.

" The best biography yet of the creator of Richard Hannay and The Thirty-Nine Steps. It shows Buchan to be the complex and rewarding figure his fans have always known him to be."The Express on Sunday

" Lively and brilliantly researched new biography of one of Scotland's most enduringly popular writers...Buchan's was nevertheless an impressive life, and Lownie tells it with sympathy and style. The Scotsman


"It is hard to imagine how this deft portrait of the bantamweight politician and still highly readable thriller writer could be bettered...As Lownie's excellent literary criticism suggests, Buchan's paradoxical nature underlies the evergreen potency of his novels." Independent

"This exemplary biography draws on private papers not used until now to give a most convincing portrait of a complex character as well as lucid and detailed criticism of Buchan's literary oeuvre." Sunday Telegraph

"...this biography (rightly acclaimed on its first publication in 1995) will help restore a much-underated author - and historic figure - to his rightful status." Scotsman

"Andrew Lownie's widely researched biography of this fascinating, complex and enigmatic figure has to be the definitive work. Lownie is admirably objective in his approach to Buchan and perceptive on the springs of his character." Sarah Bradford, The Tablet

"...a compelling picture of the author's life, and a wide view of British political, social and literary circles during the first half of the 20th century." Scots Magazine

"...solid and scholarly..." The Globe and Mail.

"In his thorough and lucid biography, Andrew Lownie, a Scottish journalist and editor of several collections of Buchan's stories and poetry, sympathetically evokes this `highly complex and private man who may not always himself have understood his own motivations and abilities.' " New York Times

"...the full sweep of this remarkable man's career is well told by Andrew Lownie in John Buchan: The Presbyterian Cavalier."Washington Times

Highly unsatisfactory
I can still recall the thrill, about 25 years ago, when I obtained a copy of CLUBLAND HEROES by Richard Usborne, which listed and discussed the "thriller" novels of Dornford Yates, "Sapper" and John Buchan.With the titles of the novels in hand, I was able to obtain almost all of the relevant works by all three authors, although the effort consumed... about 25 years.Buchan's novels were, I found, by far the most interesting, challenging and "literary," with Yates' running second, and I then obtained and read with interest biographies of Buchan and Yates.

Here's a new biography of Buchan and, alas, it doesn't amount to much.One of Buchan's major talents was the ability to make fast friends quickly, and this seems to have impressed the author, Andrew Lownie, more than any of his other abilities.On almost every page, once the book gets well underway and Buchan begins to mix with humanity, is a list of ten, twenty or even thirty names of people (most of whom will be unknown to any British citizen under 70, and almost all of whom will be unknown to any American citizen of any age), most of them completely unidentified within the text, that Buchan met or consorted with in the interval covered by that page.

The english style in which the book is written is at times nearly impenetrable.The author seems to have something against commas; mainly, there aren't any, and where at rare intervals one appears, there is generally no reason for it to be there.A number of sentences do not make sense, either because of misprints, or because the text proved nearly impossible to proofread so that omitted words or phrases were not detected.

Buchan's career as a politician seems to have been hampered by his fame as an author, whilst his career as an author seems to have been hampered by the demands of his government responsibilities.One recurring theme of the biography is the odd withholding from Buchan of the customary honors his many government services would ordinarily have merited. Another theme is Buchan's periodic struggles with intervals of very poor health, mainly tracking back to gastric ulcers.Another theme is Buchan's tremendous physical energy, demonstrated by the fact that in addition to working "full time" for a publisher, writing his own books, holding various political offices, etc., all simultaneously, he could always find time to walk 30 miles in a day, or climb some difficult peak with essentially no preparation.

Lownie discusses Buchan's literary activities in chapters separated from those discussing his other activities, which is good in a way, but also becomes quite confusing, since a "book" chapter, say Chapter N, can jump 5 or 10 years ahead of the following "life" chapter, N+1.

Buchan was eventually appointed Governor-General of Canada, and since this imperial officer could not be a commoner, Buchan at last became a Peer of the Realm, Lord Tweedsmuir of Elsfield. His enjoyment of the appointment was alas short-lived. He had held the office for only 5 years when a slip in the bathroom smashed his skull.

I don't know to what extent Buchan's books are read any more, or easily available any more.But his "thrillers" featuring Richard Hannay, Edward Leithen, and other characters as attractive as Buchan himself must have been in person, have a timeless quality and settings so vividly and immediately described that the reader can effortlessly imagine himself right there with the characters. The novels are as readable and enjoyable today as they ever were. ... Read more