An April Across America

"I decided to take the southern route, even though I knew that would mean missing Chicago, a hub on so many of those earlier journeys. After visiting with my parents in Princeton, New Jersey my plan was to watch baseball in Baltimore, spend a day in Washington, drive across Virginia to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, fly to Alabama, and then drive across Mississippi. From Jackson, Mississippi, I booked a flight to Texas, and then another to California. In between planes in Dallas, I would drive to Waco. After a few days in Los Angeles, I would spend a weekend with family in and around San Francisco. I would do all this in less than two weeks, which friends and some family members thought mad. They would say things like, 'Why do you want to go to Mississippi?' but then chastise me for missing New Orleans. But I had my own list of people and places to see." Book jacket.

An American who has lived in Switzerland since 1991, Matthew Stevenson is a graduate of Bucknell and Columbia universities. He grew up on Long Island and has worked both in magazines, as an editor, and as a chief executive in international banking. He remains a contributing editor of ôHarper's Magazineö and has written for a number of national publications. He is married to Constance Fogler and lives in Locconex, a village west of Geneva.