{"product_id":"epic-wanderer-david-thompson-and-the-mapping-of-the-canadian-west-9780803224520","title":"Epic Wanderer: David Thompson and the Mapping of the Canadian West","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWell illustrated and served well by a thorough bibliography, this imaginative reconstruction will whet readers' appetites to seek out the copious literature on Thompson, the 'epic wanderer.' \u003c\/b\u003e--\u003ci\u003eChoice \u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEpic Wanderer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e, the first full-length biography of mapmaker David Thompson (1770-1857), is set in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries against the broad canvas of dramatic rivalries between the United States and British North America, between the Hudson's Bay Company and its Montreal-based rival, the North West Company, and among the various First Nations thrown into disarray by the advent of guns, horses, and alcohol. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLess celebrated than his contemporaries Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, Thompson spent nearly three decades, beginning in 1784, surveying and mapping more than 1.2 million square miles of largely uncharted Indian territory. Traveling across the prairies, over the Rockies, and on to the Pacific, Thompson transformed the raw data of his explorations into a map of the Canadian West. Measuring ten feet by seven feet and exhibiting astonishing accuracy, the map became essential to the politicians and diplomats who would decide the future of the rich and promising lands of the West. Yet its creator worked without personal glory and died in penniless obscurity.\u003cp\u003eDrawing extensively on Thompson's personal journals and illustrated with his detailed sketches, intricate notebook pages, and the map itself, \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eEpic Wanderer\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e charts the life of a man who risked everything in the name of scientific advancement and exploration. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eD'Arcy Jenish is the author of \u003ci\u003eIndian Fall: The Last Great Days of the Plains Cree\u003c\/i\u003e \u003ci\u003eand the Blackfoot Confederacy\u003c\/i\u003e and the best-selling \u003ci\u003eThe Stanley Cup: One Hundred Years of Hockey at Its Best\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003cbr\u003e","brand":"Bison Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50692881940754,"sku":"9780803224520","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_3a499a2d-46cc-4b94-8e0a-9313223c8013.jpg?v=1734136781","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/epic-wanderer-david-thompson-and-the-mapping-of-the-canadian-west-9780803224520","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}