Across the Wide Missouri by Bernard DeVoto (1947) Hardcover Illustrated

* The Rocky Mountain Fur Trade: The book focuses on the brief but intense period between 1832 and 1838, when the demand for beaver pelts drove a rugged economy and deep westward exploration.

* The Annual Rendezvous: DeVoto vividly describes the "Rendezvous," a massive, chaotic summer gathering where trappers, Native American tribes, and company merchants met to trade furs for supplies, drink, and socialize.

* Cultural Collision: It offers an unsentimental look at the interactionsboth cooperative and violentbetween European-American trappers and tribes such as the Blackfeet, Crow, and Nez Perce.

* The End of an Era: The narrative tracks the transition from a wild frontier to the beginning of the Oregon Trail, marking the moment the wilderness began to give way to organized westward migration.