I am an award-winning author of historical non-fiction with eight books to my credit, published internationally and translated into many languages. My book Scurvy: How a Surgeon, a Mariner and a Gentleman Solved the Greatest Medical Mystery of the Age of Sail was an international critical success and was selected as one of the Globe and Mail's Top 100 books of 2004. A Most Damnable Invention: Dynamite, Nitrates and the Making of the Modern World, was included in the Scientific American Book Club, the History Book Club and the Quality Paperback Book Club as well as being shortlisted for two awards. My next book, Madness, Betrayal and the Lash: The Epic Voyage of Captain George Vancouver, was shortlisted for the Canadian Authors' Association's Lela Common Award for Canadian History and won the 2009 B.C. Book Prize Booksellers' Choice Award.After the publication of Merchant Kings: When Companies Ruled the World, in 2010, I received a phone call from The Right Honourable Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada, telling me how much he enjoyed the book. He stayed up all night reading it, but he said the lost sleep was worth it.1494: How a Family Feud in Medieval Spain Divided the World in Half was released in August 2011 in Canada and February 2012 in the United States. 1494 tells the true story involving a corrupt pope - Rodrigo Borgia, the patriarch of the family fictionalized in the hit Showtime series The Borgias - in an explosive feud between monarchs, clergy and explorers that split the globe between Spain and Portugal and made the world's oceans a battleground. The Last Viking: The Life of Roald Amundsen was released in the US, Canada and the UK in the fall of 2012 to superior reviews and strong sales. Based on the discovery of hundreds of previously unused magazine and newspaper interviews and profiles, most from the New York Times, it presents a new perspective of Amundsen's personality and life and shows that he lived primarily in the United States for many years rather than in Norway as is commonly assumed. My author facebook page is www.facebook.com/srbown on which I post interesting historical tidbits related to my writing several times per week. I also have an author website which has a complete list of reviews: www.stephenrbown.net I live in Canmore in the Rocky Mountains with my wife Nicky and two children. 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.