Andrew Graham-Dixon explores the role of artists and architects in the development of American cities and culture, as the country sought to step out of Europe's shadow. He travels to Manhattan, Chicago and Massachusetts to examine the work of Norman Rockwell, John Sloan, George Bellows and Louis Sullivan, before charting the links between the Great Depression of the 1920s and 30s and the rise of abstract expressionism. He also visits Jackson Pollock's studio in Long Island and Mark Rothko's Chapel in Houston, Texas