Across the Wide Missouri (ISBN 0-395-92497-9) is a 1947 historical work by Bernard DeVoto. It is the second volume of a trilogy that includes The Year of Decision (1942) and The Course of Empire (1952).

Across the Wide Missouri is a history of the fur trade in the American West during the 1830s, a time when it was at its peak. The trapping of beaver and other animals caused conflict between the trappers and the various Indian tribes of the Upper Missouri River Basin.

The book was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for History in 1948.

Missouri (ⁱ/mɨˈzʊəri/) (nickname The Show Me State) is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States, bordered by Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Kansas and Nebraska. Missouri is the 21st most extensive and the 18th most populous of the 50 United States. Missouri comprises 114 counties and the independent city of St. Louis. The four largest urban areas are St. Louis, Kansas City, Springfield, and Columbia. Missouri's capital is Jefferson City. The land that is now Missouri was acquired from France as part of the Louisiana Purchase and became known as the Missouri Territory. Part of the Territory was admitted into the union as the 24th state on August 10, 1821.

Missouri generally mirrors the demographic, economic and political makeup of America and has long been considered a political bellwether state. With the exceptions of the Presidential elections of 1956 and 2008, Missouri's results have accurately predicted the next President of the United States in every election since 1904. It has both Midwestern and Southern cultural influences, reflecting its history as a border state. It is also a transition between the Eastern and Western United States, as St. Louis is often called the "western-most Eastern city" and Kansas City the "eastern-most Western city". Missouri's geography is highly varied. The northern part of the state lies in dissected till plains while the southern part lies in the Ozark Mountains (a dissected plateau), with the Missouri River dividing the two. The state lies at the intersection of the three greatest rivers of North America, with the confluence of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers near St. Louis, and the confluence of the Ohio River with the Mississippi north of the Bootheel. The starting points of the Pony Express Trail and Oregon Trail were both in Missouri. The mean center of United States population as of the 2010 Census is at the town of Plato in Texas County, Missouri.

Isaac Newton "Ike" Skelton IV (born December 20, 1931) is the former U.S. Representative for Missouri's 4th congressional district. During his tenure, he has served as the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee. He is a member for the Democratic Party. On November 2, 2010 he lost his seat to Vicky Hartzler.

Skelton was born in Lexington, Missouri, a rural town with extensive Civil War history, where he still lives today.

In 1928, Skelton's father met Harry S. Truman, then a Jackson County judge, and the two became good friends. When he was 17, Skelton attended Truman’s 1949 inauguration.

Skelton is an Eagle Scout. He earned an associate of arts degree from Wentworth Military Academy and College in 1951, an A.B. in 1953 and an LL.B. in 1956 from the University of Missouri. He is a brother of Sigma Chi and Alpha Phi Omega at the University of Missouri. He also attended the University of Edinburgh in Scotland in 1953. Skelton then became a lawyer and entered private practice in Lafayette County, Missouri.

Al Goodman (August 12, 1890 in Nikopol, – January 10, 1972 in New York City, New York) was a conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist.

Graduate of the Baltimore City College and the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, musician in a nickelodeon, and chorus boy in one of the Milton Aborn's operettas, Al Goodman was first introduced to musical comedy by the late Earl Carroll who persuaded him to collaborate in producing his musical, So Long Letty.

This success, followed by the hit, “Sinbad”, which he produced with Al Jolson, led to positions as orchestra conductor for many Broadway productions including the highly successful Flyin’ High, The Student Prince, and Blossom Time. In all, during this period of his career, Goodman directed over 150 first-night performances and became one of the Great White Way's most popular conductors.

He was in such demand that it was not uncommon for him to conduct the orchestra of a show for the first few performances, and then hand the baton over to another while he prepared for a new production. In addition to his assignments as one of RCA Victor's most talented conductors, Goodman was kept busy directing the music for various radio network shows including Palmolive Beauty Box Theater (1935-1937), Your Hit Parade (1935-1938) and the Fred Allen Show (1945-1949)and his pet program, The Prudential Family.