The Cuyahoga River that flows through Cleveland once had an unfortunate reputation of a river of fire, being so polluted that it actually burned. Yet modern Cleveland has cleaned up its act in more ways than one; drawing on both the influx of money brought by the industrial tycoons and its own earthy, working-class roots, […]

From rather modest beginnings in 1847, when it was founded as a Mormon retreat by the prophet Brigham Young, Salt Lake City boomed with the laying of the first transcontinental railway through the town. Originally populated by religious converts, the discovery of mineral wealth in the surrounding country brought greater economic prosperity, and today the […]

Approach Chicago by water and the reflected cityscape of towering skyscrapers might leave you speechless; particularly at night when the glittering luminescence makes it appear as the Milky Way fallen to earth. Once famed for the legend of Al Capone and murky underworld of organised crime, Chicago today is the ‘most American of American cities’, […]

From Hollywood to Starbucks to the ‘American Dream’, the USA has so relentlessly exported its culture around the globe that many of us feel that we know it already. The country is far from a monoculture though and there remains plenty to explore. LA, Las Vegas, Miami and New York all have their own international […]

If you’ve always dreamed of playing cowboy for a day, then Amarillo is the city for you. A popular stop on the US major 1-40 route, this Texas gem retains a strong Old West flavour that’ll have you strutting down the highway like John Wayne in his heyday. There’s more to Amarillo than it’s cattle […]

The founding of the Ford Motor Company in 1904 changed the course of history, as far as Detroit was concerned. Already a prominent manufacturing base, it was to become a boom-town that doubled in size over the next two decades, with tens of thousands of immigrant workers flocking to fill the factories of the new […]

One of the greenest in America, Austin also tops polls for the least stressful and most friendly city in the country. Southern hospitality meets a lively student culture, while Town Lake in particular is regularly host to top class performers as the city has styled itself the ‘live musical capital of the world’. The ‘Keep […]

The Independence National Historical Park, quietly ensconced within Philadelphia’s sprawling borders, is widely regarded as the most historically significant square mile in the US; this is, after all, where the country itself was conceived. Indeed, this has been an almost unfortunate adornment for a city that became known as ‘corrupt and contented’ during the early […]

With Hollywood studios arguably as important as the Whitehouse in everyday American lives, it was perhaps inevitable that L.A. should become the preserve of dreamers and immigrants, thousands who flock to the city each year for their own little bit of the cherry. There’s no doubting that it looks good, too, from the bleach blonde […]

Miami loves to flirt; but be careful with her, because this isn’t your regular date. Behind the gorgeous good looks flaunted shamelessly to the world there’s a catalogue of eccentrics that make this far more than just another seaside resort. There’s no doubting her credentials. Positioned at the southern tip of the Gold Coast, with […]

Natural disasters have a way of forcing you to appreciate the best things in life; though to be fair, that was never a problem for citizens of the ‘Big Easy’, the fun-time, happy-go-lucky former French colony on the banks of the Mississippi. Reconstruction works after the widespread destruction of 2005 and Hurricane Katrina is well […]

With the Yellowstone National Park as its back yard, and Glacier and Grand Teton as alternative playgrounds for the more energetic, Billings boasts an idyllic location at the heart of the northern US. It may have a population of barely 100,000 but it remains an important gateway for the Northern Rockies and Great Plains and […]