Stephen R. Bown

STEPHEN R. BOWN is a popular historian and author of 12 works of literary non-fiction. His books have been published throughout English-speaking territories and have been translated into nine different languages; he has also written more than 20 feature magazine articles highlighting lesser-known characters and events in Canadian history. He strives to make the past accessible, meaningful, and entertaining by applying a narrative and immersive style to his writing, which blends story-telling with factual depth.

Stephen's recent best-selling books The Company: The Rise and Fall of the Hudson's Bay Empire and Dominion: The Railway and the Rise of Canada offer fresh perspectives on Canada's foundational stories by casting a broader lens on events of the day and highlighting characters who were not previously part of the dominant narrative. He was recently honoured as the 2024 recipient of the Governor General's History Award for Popular Media: the Pierre Berton Award, which recognized how his work has enriched public discourse, creating a lasting impact on how Canadians view and understand our shared history.

The Company won the 2021 National Business Book Award and the J.W. Dafoe Book Prize. Stephen's other accolades include the BC Book Prize for Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver, the Alberta Book Award for Island of the Blue Foxes: Disaster and Triumph on Bering's Great Voyage to Alaska and the William Mills Prize for Polar Books for White Eskimo: Knud Rasmussen's Fearless Journey into the Heart of the Arctic.

"Learning from the past isn't about judging the past by modern standards, or agreeing or disagreeing with the actions or decisions of historical characters. It is about understanding the challenges and struggles of past people within the context of their times, technology, education and infrastructure and state capacity to solve problems. In other words, it involves learning about and considering the good, the bad, and the ugly of the past in its full context, the way a visitor might explore a foreign country, open-minded to the differences from their own culture and experience.

Knowing how we came to be where we are as a nation - the choices made by people in the past - should be about understanding our origins, not glorifying or denigrating them. To deny knowledge and remain ignorant is an abrogation of responsibility that paves the way for future failure. Gaining knowledge of our shared history builds a sense of community and inoculates us against agenda-driven distortions of facts and events."