After 20 grueling years in the British Parliament, Michael Portillo reinvented himself as a documentarian and set out to see the world. In this illustrated companion to the BBC series, Portillo embarks by train on an epic journey from New York and Boston to the deep south of Atlanta and New Orleans, and then on to Chicago, Colorado, New Mexico, and ultimately San Francisco. Focusing on the 19th century in particular, Portillo demonstrates a warm appreciation for America and its history, and here he extols how railroad travel helps us to appreciate the landscape.