Authors David and Marti Peck: Lewis and Clark History Presentation

The Lewis & Clark National Park Association is pleased to announce a guest author double feature event on July 7, 2025, at 2pm and 3:30pm in the Netul River Room of the Visitor Center at Lewis and Clark National Historical Park. Admission to the park is free for this event. At 2pm. 

Dr. David Peck’s Or Perish in the Attempt ingeniously combines the remarkable adventures of Lewis and Clark with an examination of the health problems their expedition faced. Formidable problems indeed, but the author guides us through the medical travails of the famous journey, juxtaposing treatment then against remedy now. The result is a fascinating book that sheds new light not only on Lewis and Clark and the men and one remarkable woman (and her infant) who accompanied them along an eight-thousand-mile wilderness path but also on the practice of medicine in their time and place.

At 3:30pm, authors and doctors David & Marti Peck of So Hard to Die: A Physician and a Psychologist Explore the Mystery of Meriwether Lewis's Death provide an in-depth analysis of the various theories that still swirl around his death. They draw on their professional backgrounds to vividly and convincingly explain the mystery of Lewis's death.