Excited to announce the publication of my new book Hidden Maryland: In Search of America in Miniature. For eight years, from 2005 to 2013, when it folded, I wrote columns and features for Maryland Life magazine.  For several years, I wrote a regular  column called “Hidden Maryland.”   My stories won four awards, including the Gold Award for best column, from the International  Regional Magazine Association.  Hidden Maryland, the book, contains some 50 columns and features that still speak to us today, plus color images I took along the way.

The stories are about little known places and people. They are admittedly, and purposely, off the beaten path.  Take a trip of discovery across this remarkable, diverse state that has defied easy definition but encompassed much of America within its oddly-configured borders.  For a free preview and to order a paperback or an e-book, click on Amazon. But  don’t let me just toot my own horn–yet.  Here’s what others had to say:

“If Maryland is for crabs, then Gene Meyer is for Maryland. He’s visited every corner of the state. That’s no easy task, given how squiggly Maryland’s border is in places. And after decades spent plumbing every nook and cranny — from seashore to mountain — Gene reveals a simple truth: Maryland’s greatest natural resource is its people.” –– John Kelly, the superb local columnist at the Washington Post (and my onetime editor on the Weekend section)

“Back when Gene Meyer wrote for The Washington Post, I followed him closely. His stories from across Maryland popped with discovery and read-out-loud prose. His superb story-telling skills obviously continued into his Hidden Maryland days. In each tale, he makes his readers feel like fellow travelers.” – Dan Rodricks, Baltimore Sun columnist

“Gene’s path as a journalist and editor at the Washington Post, as an author, and as someone who can find a gem of a needle in any haystack of information is what made him uniquely qualified to write “Hidden Maryland” for tens of thousands of us to enjoy issue after issue. Wherever he went, he could root out a compelling story, and we were proud to publish it.” – Dan Patrell, publisher, Maryland Life magazine, 2005-2013

Okay, time now for  a little shameless self-promotion, the book’s description elsewhere on this website and on Amazon. Tour the USA — in Maryland! This oddly-configured state — the ninth smallest — has been called “American in Miniature.” Within its borders: maritime (Chesapeake!) and mountains (Appalachia), the industrial north (Baltimore), the plantation South (Southern Maryland). It’s all here in Hidden Maryland: In Search of America in Miniature. Gene Meyer has spent decades exploring the state’s hidden nooks and crannies, meeting people and finding places not on any traditional tour map. This richly illustrated guide through the state’s regions, with side trips to its sporting life, military history and more, will delight and enthrall you. Plus, unique profiles of such Free State personalities as noir novelist and filmmaker George Pelecanos, wine guru Robert Parker, and Tony Mendez, the CIA operative behind ARGO, the successful extraction of American hostages in Iran turned into a 2012 Oscar-winning film, and Charlie Koiner, an honest-to-goodness urban farmer. In search of America in Miniature? You will find it all here, in Gene Meyer’s readable, viewable Hidden Maryland”

Come travel with me!

Best to all,

Gene