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Disappointment River

Finding and Losing the Northwest Passage

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Disappointment River

Written by: Brian Castner
Narrated by: Brian Castner
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About this listen

 In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie traveled 1200 miles on the immense river in Canada that now bears his name, in search of the fabled Northwest Passage that had eluded mariners for hundreds of years. In 2016, the acclaimed memoirist Brian Castner retraced Mackenzie's route by canoe in a grueling journey -- and discovered the Passage he could not find.

Disappointment River is a dual historical narrative and travel memoir that at once transports readers back to the heroic age of North American exploration and places them in a still rugged but increasingly fragile Arctic wilderness in the process of profound alteration by the dual forces of globalization and climate change. Fourteen years before Lewis and Clark, Mackenzie set off to cross the continent of North America with a team of voyageurs and Chipewyan guides, to find a trade route to the riches of the East. What he found was a river that he named "Disappointment." Mackenzie died thinking he had failed. He was wrong.

In this book, Brian Castner not only retells the story of Mackenzie's epic voyages in vivid prose, he personally retraces his travels, battling exhaustion, exposure, mosquitoes, white water rapids and the threat of bears. He transports readers to a world rarely glimpsed in the media, of tar sands, thawing permafrost, remote indigenous villages and, at the end, a wide open Arctic Ocean that could become a far-northern Mississippi of barges and pipelines and oil money. Adventure Travel Americas Canada United States World Adventure Polar Region Sailing

What the critics say

"Discovering history, and not just new landscapes around the next bend in the river, is one of the delights of Disappointment River. And, during a time when so many American descendants of foreign extraction rail against immigration, it’s useful to recall that all of us originated in a diaspora."
—Rinker Buck, Wall Street Journal

“Whether recounting the historic search for the Northwest Passage or his own epic journey on the Mackenzie River, Castner is an able guide, a steady hand, a voice of reason. You’ll want to sit in his canoe and ride this out. I couldn’t put Disappointment River down.”
—Dean King, author of Skeletons on the Zahara and The Feud

"...[Castner] provides a lively biography of Mackenzie, the youngest principal in the Northwest Company, contending not just with the rigors of exploration, but also with early corporate politics...A vital addition to the library of the far north and of exploration."
—Kirkus, starred review

"An exhilerating historical narrative...Castner evokes vivid personalities and drama from the archives ... Historians and armchair travelers alike will be equally pleased with this volume."
—Publishers Weekly

"Vividly described, in well-wrought scenes that alternate from inspiring to humorous to stomach-clenching... Castner is a highly skilled writer and engaging companion."
—Anchorage Daily News

"Appealing on both historical and contemporary levels, Castner’s work will please readers fascinated by tales of discovery."
—Booklist

"...Intriguing and enlightening...For anyone concerned with the global effects of climate change, the meaning behind Disappointment River becomes alarmingly clear."
—BookPage
All stars
Most Relevant
Amazing listen and recommend it to all people who love history and adventure. It had me hanging in right till the end, love how the author flipped from the past to present! Great read.

The up's and downs of the unknown

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I really enjoyed this story, I rarely go for adventure tales but I couldn’t stop listening to this one!

Great juxtaposition between the past and the present

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What a great idea to paddle a historical and import river and tell the historic story and your current story together. Mackenzie’s story needs to be better known, the trip alone is only half the story, the encounters tell so much more about the people and how they lived and interacted. Thanks.

Great Book

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I enjoyed listening to this book very much. The intersperse of the authors experiences with the historical accounts of Alexander’s was very effective and realistic.
I experienced the Mackenzie River myself in the 70’s as a Smoke Jumper stationed at Fort Simpson. I canoed the river in my limited spare time and flew over the entire length. Yes I jumped out of an airplane while in view of the river, only to land in the river and have to swim ashore. With gear on! It was for practice they said.
Thank you for refreshing my memories, it has been quite emotional book for me!
CRS

Midnight Sun From the River!

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I enjoy the subject, so more than 1 star, but the book is riddled with errors and untruths. I think its innocent. The author does not know much about the area or Canada, and it shows in his writing. The premise of the book and his trip is essentially "i was a bomtech in Iraq so I can defintely canoe to the Canadian Arctic", an equivalence which as makes as much sense as it sounds, and shows throughout the errors in the book and the authors travels.

This uninformed outsider passes along wisdom of the region, the history and the people which is just as flawed as the premise of his trip. If the Canadian North is new to you, it will be a fun book and you know what, enjoy! Its a cool subject and a nice read if you dont take it too seriously. If you do however know anything about the Canadian North, you'll find yourself scratching your head a lot. Author jammed in a lot of references and historic connections to America that are factually deficient at best, and essentially imaginary at worst.

I read the book while on my own trip in the Mackenzie valley and stayed in a lot of the same places he references in the book. I asked locals about the information and the book and the author's specific trip, which raised some eyebrows. I asked one local specifically about how brave or bold or rare that kind of journey is, and the reply was "not that crazy, happens often, saw some 70 year olds do it last year. Was here when those specific dudes from the book came through, they didnt leave any impression"

In short, I'd say this is less of a memoire or history and more of a novel. If you can read it with your head cocked to one side as fundementally a work of fiction peppered with some real observations, it will be fun. But like... dont presume you are learning more real information about Canada or the North then if you have spent an hour bouncing around on wikipedia.

Fun not fact

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