A new issue of The Next American City is out, including an article on doing away with Town and Gown; employees once owed their souls to the company store. Elizabeth A. Evitts begins a journey through industrial history in Baltimore and finds that—though the corporation has changed radically—today’s employees still do; and articles on Satellite Chinatown and Wyoming Metropolis? Despite an influential theory that cities can reverse sinking fortunes by becoming hip magnets for the educated class, the stolid and uncool appeal of the suburbs still rules in the US. A review of Nearest Thing to Heaven: The Empire State Building and American Dreams by Mark Kingwell.

From American Heritage, The Outsider: How Robert McNamara changed the automobile industry. Why black cars are taking over the world: A century after Henry Ford's famous diktat that his customers could have any colour they liked, as long as it was black, it turns out the old boy might have been on to something.  Me and my love machine: What does your car say about you? A new steer on the psychology of driving. A Jaundiced Eye: A look at why humans don't deserve automobiles. 

Air travel is becoming as controversial as wearing a fur coat or smoking during pregnancy. And there's no question that airplanes contribute to global warming. But do we really need to feel horribly guilty about flying?  Does American exceptionalism compel the United States to address climate change? An excerpt from Power and Superpower: Global Leadership and Exceptionalism in the 21st Century (and part 2). How to Hit the Trifecta: A broad energy tax would accomplish a rare policy trifecta, curbing U.S. energy consumption, reducing pollution, and providing a reliable new source of revenue. A review of With Speed and Violence: Why Scientists Fear Tipping Points in Climate Change by Fred Pearce. 

Sex is suicide: Got it? You'll flirt and flaunt it. But the human drive to mate could be killing our planet and ultimately our species. A paper, “Why Humans Have Sex,” describes both frequently endorsed reasons for having intercourse and the common themes that unify them. A review of Impotence: A Cultural History by Angus McLaren (and an interview). Eternally virginal: Rehymenisation surgery is the lastest example of an ancient obsession with totemic purity. A review of Everything Conceivable: How Assisted Reproduction is Changing Men, Women, and the World by Liza Mundy.