Brian Castner

Castner was born in 1977, in Buffalo, New York. He attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering in 1999. Castner cites his Jesuit education as a major influence in his works.{{cite web |last1=Higgins |first1=Jim |title=Marquette grad shares stories of war, personal aftermath in 'The Long Walk' |url=http://archive.jsonline.com/entertainment/arts/marquette-grad-shares-stories-of-war-personal-aftermath-in-the-long-walk-dj621sh-162363506.html |website=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=12 July 2012}} After graduating, Castner joined the U.S. Air Force as a civil engineering officer. Later, he received a master's degree in Fire and Emergency Management from Oklahoma State University.{{cite web |title=Marquette Magazine Winter 2013 |url=https://issuu.com/marquetteu/docs/marquette-magazine-winter-13/25 |publisher=Marquette University |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=26 March 2013}}

Castner graduated Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, in 2003. He served multiple tours of duty in the Middle East and Southwest Asia including in Iraq, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. He led bomb disposal companies in Balad Air Base, Iraq in 2005 and Kirkuk Air Base, Iraq in 2006. His last assignment was Nellis Air Force Base in Las Vegas. Castner left the Air Force in 2007.{{cite web |title=My Turn: Moving Back East; Heading Back Home |url=https://www.newsweek.com/my-turn-moving-back-east-heading-back-home-96027 |website=Newsweek |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=25 March 2007}}

Castner's first book The Long Walk was published in 2012 by Doubleday. The book was reviewed by multiple news websites including by Michiko Kakutani in The New York Times, and The New Yorker.{{cite web |last1=Kakutani |first1=Michiko |title=Human Costs of the Forever Wars, Enough to Fill a Bookshelf |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/26/books/human-costs-of-the-forever-wars-enough-to-fill-a-bookshelf.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=26 December 2014}}{{cite magazine |last1=Fox |first1=Chloe |title=Soldiers, Husbands, and Coming Home: "The Long Walk" |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/soldiers-husbands-and-coming-home-the-long-walk |magazine=The New Yorker |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=12 July 2012}} Apart from that, The Long Walk was also a NYTBR Editor's Choice and was named an Amazon's Best Books of the Year. Castner was a featured writer at the Miami Book Fair in 2012, on a panel with Jake Tapper and Benjamin Busch.{{cite web |last1=Sentenac |first1=Hannah |title=Miami Book Fair International Announces Full 2012 Lineup: Bill O'Reilly, Molly Ringwald, James Patterson and More |url=https://www.miaminewtimes.com/arts/miami-book-fair-international-announces-full-2012-lineup-bill-oreilly-molly-ringwald-james-patterson-and-more-6512371 |website=Miami New Times |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=22 September 2012}}

The American Lyric Theater commissioned an opera adaption of The Long Walk which premiered at Opera Saratoga in 2015. Jeremy Howard Beck composed the music and Daniel Belcher sang the role of Castner. The opera received positive reviews from The New York Times Magazine.{{cite web |last1=Chivers |first1=C. J. |title=An Iraq Veteran's Homecoming, With Arias |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/10/magazine/an-iraq-veterans-homecoming-with-arias.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=10 July 2015}} The opera was also performed at the Utah Opera in 2017 and the Pittsburgh Opera in 2018.{{cite web |last1=Newton |first1=Catherine Reese |title=Utah Opera braves front line |url=https://archive.sltrib.com/article.php?id=5126042&itype=CMSID |website=The Salt Lake Tribune |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=3 April 2017}}{{cite web |last1=O'Driscoll |first1=Bill |title="War and its aftermath" in Pittsburgh Opera's A Long Walk |url=https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/war-and-its-aftermath-in-pittsburgh-operas-a-long-walk/Content?oid=6267147 |website=Pittsburgh City Paper |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=17 January 2018}}

In 2016, Castner's second book, All the Ways We Kill and Die, was published by Arcade Publishing. Lawrence Freedman, in his book The Future of War, called it "one of the best books of the genre," and Kirkus Reviews described Castner's writing to be evocative and engaging.{{Cite book |title=The Future of War by Lawrence Freedman {{!}} PublicAffairs |date=5 March 2019 |isbn=9781541742772 |url=https://www.publicaffairsbooks.com/titles/lawrence-freedman/the-future-of-war/9781541742772/ |access-date=2022-09-05 |language=en-US |last1=Freedman |first1=Lawrence }}{{cite web |title=A must-read for military buffs and a should-read for anyone who has given even a cursory thought to the U.S. efforts in... |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/brian-castner/all-the-ways-we-kill-and-die/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=20 December 2015}} Passages North called it "the best book about America's involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan over the last fifteen years."{{cite web |last1=Jennings |first1=Brandon Davis |title=Hunting with Brian Castner: A review of All the Ways We Kill and Die |url=https://www.passagesnorth.com/passagesnorthcom/2016/09/hunting-with-brian-castner-a-review-of-all-the-ways-we-kill-and-die |website=Passages North |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=6 September 2016}}

In 2018, Doubleday published Castner's third book, Disappointment River. Writing in The Wall Street Journal, Rinker Buck said Brian Castner's "Disappointment River", a mixed history and travel memoir, goes a long way toward correcting the record of discovery in North America.{{cite web |last1=Buck |first1=Rinker |title=Venturing Into the Great Northwest |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/venturing-into-the-great-northwest-1520629682 |website=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=9 March 2018}}

Castner's fourth book, Stampede was published in 2021. The book is about the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897.{{cite web |last1=National Geographic Staff |title=These are the worst trips in the world |url=https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/these-books-are-all-about-the-worst-trips-in-the-world |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406165342/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/these-books-are-all-about-the-worst-trips-in-the-world |url-status=dead |archive-date=April 6, 2021 |website=National Geographic |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=6 April 2021}} Stampede received positive reviews from several book review websites including Kirkus Reviews and The Wall Street Journal.{{cite web |last1=Graybill |first1=Andrew R. |title='Stampede' Review: An Attack of 'Klondicitis' |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/stampede-review-an-attack-of-klondicitis-11617661530 |website=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=5 April 2021}}{{cite web |title=A vigorous historical page-turner packed with a cast of decidedly colorful (and off-color) actors. |url=https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/brian-castner/stampede-gold-fever/ |website=Kirkus Reviews |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=23 January 2021}}

Castner has twice received grants from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.{{cite web |last1=Staff Reporter |title=Allegheny professor chronicles Ebola fight |url=https://www.goerie.com/article/20150111/news/610094173?template=ampart |website=Erie Times-News |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=11 January 2015}} He was also the writer-in-residence at the Chautauqua Institution in 2014. Castner's 2016 story for Adirondack Life, "Three Days in the Santanonis", won a Gold IRMA Award.{{cite web |title=Travel Feature – Gold – Adirondack Life, "Three Days in the Santanonis" by Brian Castner |url=https://www.irmamagazines.com/portfolio-item/travel-feature-2/ |website=International Regional Magazine Association |date=15 December 2017 |access-date=12 June 2021}} He was featured on the PBS documentary Going to War which was nominated for an Emmy in 2019.{{cite web |last1=THR Staff |title=News & Documentary Emmys: 2019 Winners |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lists/news-documentary-emmys-2019-winners-1238686/ |website=The Hollywood Reporter |access-date=12 June 2021 |date=24 September 2019}}

In 2018, Castner joined Amnesty International’s International Secretariat as a Senior Crisis Advisor with the Crisis Response Programme. He has conducted weapons investigations in Ukraine, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, South Sudan and the United States.{{cite web |title=Senior Crisis Advisor with the Crisis Response Programme, and the weapons investigator for the Evidence Lab |url=https://citizenevidence.org/author/brian/ |website=Citizen Evidence |access-date=12 June 2021}}{{cite web |title=Brian Castner Senior Crisis Advisor, Amnesty International |url=https://www.forumarmstrade.org/brian-castner.html |website=Forum on the Arms Trade |access-date=12 June 2021}} In August 2021, while conducting war crimes investigations in Afghanistan, he was part of the emergency evacuation from Kabul.{{Cite news|last=Pollak|first=Sorcha|title=Taliban may be carrying out massacres with impunity – Amnesty International|url=https://www.irishtimes.com/news/world/middle-east/taliban-may-be-carrying-out-massacres-with-impunity-amnesty-international-1.4653370|access-date=2022-01-03|newspaper=The Irish Times|language=en}}

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• {{URL|briancastner.com/|Official website}}

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Category:1977 births

Category:Living people

Category:21st-century American journalists

Category:21st-century American male writers

Category:21st-century American non-fiction writers

Category:American male journalists

Category:American male non-fiction writers

Category:Marquette University alumni

Category:Military personnel from Buffalo, New York

Category:Oklahoma State University alumni

Category:United States Air Force officers

Category:United States Air Force personnel of the Iraq War

Category:Writers from Buffalo, New York