{"product_id":"9780771043338","title":"Beneath My Feet: The Memoirs of George Mercer Dawson","description":"\u003cp\u003eGeorge Mercer Dawson is a towering figure in Canadian history — and science — as the man who led the Geological Survey during its exploration of the Canadian West, mostly from horseback or from a canoe. A tough job for anyone, it was an extraordinary achievement for Dawson. Born in 1849, Dawson was crippled by a childhood illness that left him hunchbacked and in constant pain. He never grew taller than a young boy, and he never let his disabilities stop him. An avid photographer, amateur painter, professional geologist and botanist, and by necessity an ethnographer, Dawson wrote constantly: poetry, journals, reports, notes, and more than five thousand letters, his first at the age of six and his last just two days before he died in 1901.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBut Dawson never wrote his memoirs. So, a century after his death, Phil Jenkins has lent him a hand. Using Dawson’s own words, and filling in the gaps in Dawson’s voice, Jenkins presents the man who left his heart in western Canada. Their countless stories — from witnessing the last great buffalo stampede to encountering the timeless customs of the Haida — evoke the real excitement of the age of exploration. Dawson knew the pain of unrequited love, suffered the bite of a million mosquitoes, and yet he travelled on, over mountainous physical odds, to become one of the most respected and enjoyed of Victorian Canadians, in the thought-provoking times of Dickens and Darwin.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"McClelland \u0026 Stewart Ltd.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47007213715696,"sku":"9780771043338","price":21.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780771043338_p0.jpg?v=1763661432","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780771043338","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}