# Event Details - **Event Name**: Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" - **Event Start and End Date**: Tue, 01 Sep, 2026 at 06:00 pm – Tue, 01 Sep, 2026 at 07:00 pm - **Event Description**: Join us for an evening with Bloomington author Craig Fehrman, who will be discussing his latest book, "This Vast Enterprise."About this EventABOUT THE BOOK:NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A major revisionist history of the Lewis and Clark expedition: For the first time in a generation, This Vast Enterprise offers a fresh and more accurate account of one of the most important episodes in American history, humanizing forgotten figures and shattering long-held myths.In 1806, when Meriwether Lewis and William Clark return from their journey—having led the Corps of Discovery across eight thousand miles of rapids, mountains, forests, and ravines—they bring an incredible tale starring themselves as courageous explorers, skilled survivalists, underrated scientists, and peaceful ambassadors. While there is truth in those descriptions, there is also distortion.From one of the most exciting new historians to emerge in the past decade, This Vast Enterprise offers a novel take on the expedition: a gripping narrative that draws on lost documents, stunning analysis, and Native perspectives. Craig Fehrman spent five years visiting more than thirty archives, interviewing more than a hundred sources, and collecting oral history passed down over centuries. He came to see that the success of Lewis and Clark depended on much more than just Lewis and Clark. We all know Sacajawea, and some of us know York, the Black man Clark enslaved. But here we meet John Ordway, a working-class soldier who fought grizzlies and towed the captains’ hulking barge. We hear from Wolf Calf, a Blackfoot teenager who watched his friend die in a battle with Lewis and his men.Each chapter moves to a different person’s point of view, describing their desires and contradictions. We see Thomas Jefferson operating in an age of bitter partisan unrest—his secret political maneuvers to fund the expedition, revealed here for the first time, are a case study in presidential power. We witness the strategy and strength of Black Buffalo, completely upending our understanding of Lakota-American diplomacy. York, in his chapters, finds ways to wield power and make choices in an era that didn’t allow him much of either. Clark is not a folksy Kentuckian but a student of the Enlightenment. (Fehrman discovered his college notebook; no previous biographer even realized that he went to college.) Lewis is someone willing to sacrifice everything for his country and his mentor, Jefferson.In the end, the captains are men who needed help—from Sacajawea, from the Corps, and from each other. Mile after mile, the expedition pushes on through hailstorms and flash floods, frostbite and infections, rattlesnakes and rabid wolves, with the Spanish cavalry in fierce pursuit. Fehrman balances the story’s adventure with the humanity of its protagonists. The result is a thrilling reminder that even the most familiar moments in history can still surprise us.ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Craig Fehrman, a journalist and historian, spent five years writing and researching This Vast Enterprise. His first book, Author in Chief, was described by Thomas Mallon in The Wall Street Journal as “one of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years.” Fehrman lives in Indiana with his wife and children. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/bloomington/craig-fehrman-on-this-vast-enterprise-a-new-history-of-lewis-and-clark/100001991830647084 - **Event Categories**: trips-adventures, art, literary-art, workshops - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 - **Event Highlights**: - Age Limit: all_ages - Duration: 1 hour - Location: Morgenstern Books & Café - Languages: English ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: USD ## Event venue details - **city**: Bloomington - **state**: IN - **country**: United States - **location**: Morgenstern Books & Café - **lat**: 39.1564241 - **long**: -86.4956034 - **full address**: Morgenstern Books & Café, 849 South Auto Mall Road, Bloomington, United States ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/9062fd3b3561277fb9800eadf1ee5284de761b545c56834cb8feec07604d555e-rimg-w1200-h600-dc273848-gmir.jpg?v=1781479245 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" being held? - **A:** Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" takes place on Tue, 01 Sep, 2026 at 06:00 pm to Tue, 01 Sep, 2026 at 07:00 pm at Morgenstern Books & Cafe, 849 South Auto Mall Road, Bloomington, United States. - **Q**: Who is organizing Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark"? - **A:** Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" is organized by Morgenstern Books. - **Q**: Who is this event for? Is it right for me? - **A:** Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" is ideal for art lovers, collectors, creatives, and anyone inspired by visual arts, installations, and exhibitions. Whether you're a first-time attendee or a longtime enthusiast in Bloomington, this event is thoughtfully curated to deliver a standout experience worth every moment. If Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark" sounds like your kind of event, don't wait - spots fill up fast. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Craig Fehrman on "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark"", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/9062fd3b3561277fb9800eadf1ee5284de761b545c56834cb8feec07604d555e-rimg-w1200-h600-dc273848-gmir.jpg?v=1781479245", "startDate": "2026-09-01", "endDate": "2026-09-01", "url": "https://allevents.in/bloomington/craig-fehrman-on-this-vast-enterprise-a-new-history-of-lewis-and-clark/100001991830647084", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Morgenstern Books & Café", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "849 South Auto Mall Road", "postalCode": "47401", "addressLocality": "Bloomington", "addressRegion": "IN", "addressCountry": "US" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "39.1564241", "longitude": "-86.4956034" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Join us for an evening with Bloomington author Craig Fehrman, who will be discussing his latest book, \"This Vast Enterprise.\"", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-07", "availabilityEnds": "2026-09-01", "validFrom": "2026-09-07", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/bloomington/craig-fehrman-on-this-vast-enterprise-a-new-history-of-lewis-and-clark/100001991830647084" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "USD", "availabilityStarts": "2026-09-07", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-09-07", "url": "https://allevents.in/bloomington/craig-fehrman-on-this-vast-enterprise-a-new-history-of-lewis-and-clark/100001991830647084", "price": 0, "name": "Free Event RSVP" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "Morgenstern Books", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/morgenstern-books/19289324" } ] } ] ```