Author and historian Kira Gale will discuss the international and Native American politics of the Lewis and Clark Journey on Wednesday [APRIL 14] during East Central University's Academic Excellence Day.
She will speak at 3 p.m. in the Estep Multimedia Center in the Bill S. Cole University Center.
Gale, the author of "Lewis and Clark Road Trips: Exploring the Trail Across America," also will sign copies of her latest book, "The Death of Meriwether Lewis: A Historic Crime Scene Investigation."
Academic Excellence Day is co-sponsored by the Honors Program and Alpha Chi. For more information, contact Christine Pappas at 559-5640 or cpappas@ecok.edu.
Lewis was best known as the leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition whose mission was to explore the territory of the Louisiana Purchase. His death is a 200-year-old mystery, whether he committed suicide or was murdered. Gale wrote the book about his death with James E. Starrs, a forensic scientist who will be in charge of exhuming the remains of Meriwether Lewis if the National Park Service grants permission.
Gale is an independent historian living in Omaha, Neb., whose interest in history comes from being curious about "What happened here?" In pursuing local history she discovered lost trading posts and the contradictory nature of the historical record, encouraging her interest in solving history's mysteries.
She expanded her interest to include the entire Lewis and Clark Trail, which resulted in her first book.
Gale received the Meritorious Achievement Award of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in 2007. She is the founder and first president of the Mouth of the Platte Chapter of the Lewis and Clark Trail Heritage Foundation in Omaha, and founder of the Lewis and Clark study group at the Western Historic Trails Center in Council Bluffs, Iowa. She blogs and writes a monthly email newsletter with Lewis and Clark Trail news from around the country.
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