A companion to the phenomenally successful Great British Railway Journeys, this series sees Michael Portillo swapping his treasured copy of Bradshaw's handbook for its stateside counterpart an 1879 edition of Appleton's guidebook to the railroads of America and Canada.

This four-DVD set features twenty episodes covering two different journeys:

• St. Louis, Missouri, to the Grand Canyon
• The Twin Cities to Memphis

Michael makes two epic journeys through the United States: his first follows the trail of 19th-century European pioneers, beginning in St Louis, Missouri, and ending with an awe-inspiring bird's-eye view of the Grand Canyon; the second journey begins with Minnesota's Twin Cities, takes in the modern metropolis of Chicago and and ends in Memphis, Tennessee.

Along the way Michael gets a taste of the Old West in Dodge City, conducts a cattle auction in Kansas, visits the birthplace of F. Scott Fitzgerald in St Paul, Minnesota, and learns of a musical dream made reality in Santa Fe; he also finds time to savour New Mexico's delectably fiery cuisine and immerses himself in the culture and history of the continent's first inhabitants: the Native Americans.