Simon Parker

With its omnipresence in global popular culture, it can be easy to look at the United States and feel like you’ve worked it out.  

Two days after the US presidential election, we take you under the skin of Middle America, to discover what ordinary people across that country really care about, in the company of travel writer and filmmaker, Simon Parker. 

In 2023, finding the ‘Trump and guns’ headlines increasingly frustrating, Simon cycled right across America, from the northern western tip of Washington State near Seattle to the southern tip of Florida, in a bid to encounter ordinary middle Americans and listen without prejudice to what they had to say. The result is his book, “A Ride Across America: A 4000 Mile Adventure Through the Small Towns & Big Issues of the USA”, an enthralling portrait of an enormously diverse country we routinely over-simplify. 

Simon joins us to share highlights from his free-wheeling cross-country journey.