Historian: America's Origin Story Is A Lie - Craig Fehrman

Today's guest spent five years digging through archives to uncover the real story of Lewis and Clark — and what he found will completely change the way you think about America's origin. Craig Fehrman is a journalist, a historian, and the author of The Vast Enterprise, and I'm telling you right now, this is one of the most fascinating conversations we've had on Open Book. 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.” Congrats on the book launch, Craig. Go out and get this amazing new book, "This Vast Enterprise: A New History of Lewis & Clark," here: https://amzn.to/4cnR3Mw 📚 Books mentioned in this episode: Author in Chief by Craig Fehrman https://amzn.to/48YeHNe The Power Broker by Robert Caro https://amzn.to/3QiviVP Undaunted Courage by Stephen Ambrose https://amzn.to/4cELf03 A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin https://amzn.to/4cn8nRL Eisenhower by Stephen Ambrose https://amzn.to/3QdVkcR Truman by David McCullough https://amzn.to/4tqqPPy Anthony Scaramucci is the founder and managing partner of SkyBridge, a global alternative investment firm, and founder and chairman of SALT, a global thought leadership forum and venture studio. Pre-order my next book, ⁠All the Wrong Moves: How Three Catastrophic Decisions Led to the Rise of Trump⁠, out on the 17th of September in the UK and the 22nd of September in the US: ⁠⁠https://www.scaramucci.net/allthewron... Timestamps 0:00 Craig Fehrman Introduction 0:59 Craig's origin story 1:55 This is the quintessential American story 3:06 Why tell the Lewis & Clark story? 4:36 What is the Vast Enterprise? 5:45 Jefferson's funding of the Lewis & Clark expedition 6:38 Interview Lewis, Clark, Jefferson, what would you ask? 8:43 Finding Clark's college notebook 10:25 The forgotten legacy of John Ordway 12:00 The incredible story of York 13:39 Comparison of Stephen Ambrose's book to Craig's new book 17:12 The importance of drawing on Indigenous oral histories 20:17 Craig's last book, "Author in Chief" and what it can teach about presidents 21:56 Five Words 25:44 What's next for Craig Fehrman?