Stephen R. Bown
AUTHOR

Stephen R. Bown

History | Health & Wellness | Biographies & Memoirs
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www.facebook.com/srbown I have written ten books on the history of exploration, science, and ideas--including books on the medical mystery of scurvy, the Treaty or Tordesillas, the lives of Captain George Vancouver and of Roald Amundsen and a doomed Russian sea voyage. My books have been published in multiple English-speaking territories, translated into nine languages and shortlisted for many awards. I have won the BC Book Prize, the Alberta Book Award, the William Mills Prize for Polar Books. I take a biographical and narrative approach to my writing, using the techniques of fiction writing - strong storytelling, creative language, emphasizing people, their decisions, actions and motivations - to tell factually and historically accurate stories. I believe that people and their behaviour never change, only the context is different. My lifelong interest in history is fueled by the lessons to be learned from studying the successes and failures of history's greatest thinkers, leaders and innovators, those who challenged conventional thinking and entrenched power structures to change their world. I am particularly interested in how the world we live in today was formed by individuals who were responding to the big challenges of their time, and in particular, how and why those individuals became pioneers. "I have long been interested in the North American fur trade, particularly the early days during the first tentative meetings between peoples, when the world was a very different place socially, scientifically and technologically. For whatever reason it seems that this period is often misrepresented and misunderstood. While the data- statistics and numbers and facts-are obviously a fundamental background to understanding the history, it has always been the people who have fascinated me. People who were biologically the same as you and me-just as intelligent and motivated by the same basic urges-but who lived their lives and made their decisions within the boundaries of different cultural and geographical constraints." I live in a small town in the Rocky Mountains with my family. When I'm not writing I'm usually reading, mountain biking, hiking and camping in the summer, and downhill and cross country skiing in the winter. My website www.stephenrbown.net includes more information about my books including reviews and awards.
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The Best Fiction Podcasts for Listeners Who Love a Good Story

You can’t beat a good story. Luckily, humans are great at storytelling, and the best fiction podcasts are all the proof that the modern listener requires. Get the popcorn ready; it’s storytime.

Featured Article: The Best Fiction Podcasts for Listeners Who Love a Good Story

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  • Dominion cover art

    • Dominion

    • The Railway and the Rise of Canada
    • Written by: Stephen Bown
    • Narrated by: Wayne Ward
    • Length: 12 hrs and 4 mins
    • Release date: 2023-10-10
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 11 ratings

    Price: $34.24 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $34.24 or 1 Credit

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  • Madness, Betrayal and the Lash cover art

    Price: $21.92 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $21.92 or 1 Credit

    Preorder: Free with 30-day trial
  • Merchant Kings cover art

    Price: $27.83 or 1 Credit

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  • 1494 cover art

    • 1494

    • How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half
    • Written by: Stephen R. Bown
    • Narrated by: Paul Heitsch
    • Length: 10 hrs and 12 mins
    • Release date: 2022-09-13
    • Language: English
    • 5 out of 5 stars 1 rating

    Price: $27.83 or 1 Credit

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  • Scurvy cover art

    • Scurvy

    • How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail
    • Written by: Stephen R. Bown
    • Narrated by: Dan Cashman
    • Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
    • Release date: 2016-08-10
    • Language: English
    • 4 out of 5 stars 1 rating

    Price: $25.20 or 1 Credit

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  • Scurvy cover art

    • Scurvy

    • How a Surgeon, a Mariner, and a Gentlemen Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail
    • Written by: Stephen Bown
    • Narrated by: Dan Cashman
    • Length: 7 hrs and 58 mins
    • Release date: 2022-05-06
    • Language: English
    • Not rated yet

    Price: $29.13 or 1 Credit

    Sale price: $29.13 or 1 Credit

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