The USA is a vast landscape of people, ideas, and cultures that ranges far beyond the concept of the melting pot. The stories in this book explore the America of great cities and small towns, open spaces and empty highways, poignant history and mundane everyday life, the great outdoors and the wilderness within. Through encounters with people and places in the center of things and the back of beyond, these travelers draw a portrait of this remarkable country and reveal what it means to discover America at the end of the 20th century.

Notable authors include: Jim Harrison, Garrett Hongo, E. Annie Proulx, Jan Morris, Sallie Tisdale, James Fallows, Dave Barry, and David Lamb.