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Brian Castner

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BRIAN CASTNER served three tours in the Middle East as an officer of the U.S. Air Force—two of them as the head of an EOD team in Iraq. In 2006, he received a Bronze Star for his service. Upon returning to the United States following his service, he consulted as an independent civilian contractor, training military EOD units on tactical bomb-disposal procedures prior to their deployment to Iraq and Afghanistan. He lives in Buffalo, New York, with his wife and children.

Books by Brian Castner

Stampede

A gripping and wholly original account of the epic human tragedy that was the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. One hundred thousand men and women rushed heedlessly north to make their fortunes; very few did, but many thousands of them died in the attempt.

“A ripping tale of ambition, adventure, insanity and greed. Brian Castner tells a big American story of the last big American frontier. I couldn’t put this book down.”—Elliot Ackerman

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Disappointment River

In 1789, Alexander Mackenzie traveled 1,200 miles on the immense river in Canada that now bears his name, in search of the fabled Northwest Passage. In 2016, the acclaimed memoirist Brian Castner retraced Mackenzie’s route by canoe in a grueling journey—and discovered the Passage that Mackenzie could not find.

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The Long Walk

In the tradition of Michael Herr’s Dispatches and works by such masters of the memoir as Mary Karr and Tobias Wolff, a powerful account of war and homecoming.

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