Volume Two, Number Five

CONTENTS

From the Editor

Editor-in-Chief Nick Schulz introduces the latest issue of THE AMERICAN.

The American Scene

U.S. leadership in science and technology; CEO pay; political swing states; and more.

The Young Economist

The University of Chicago’s Christian Broda on how China helps America’s poor.
BY HEATHER WILHELM

DataPoints

What college kids today think about affirmative action, Barack Obama, and John McCain.
COMPILED BY KARLYN BOWMAN 

The Interview

Genentech’s Susan Desmond-Hellman on the challenges facing the biotech industry.

Q&A

Is America still an upwardly mobile society?
BY STEPHEN MOORE

Geopolitics

There’s one last chance to avoid conflict with Iran.
BY ROBERT HADDICK

Techno-Ideas

Income inequality and Google’s Sergey Brin.
BY ARNOLD KLING AND NICK SCHULZ

American Civilization

How IBM, the census, and Emily Dickinson define an epoch.
BY ROBERT MCHENRY 

American Seen

Architect Eero Saarinen helped business soar.
BY DANIEL AKST

FEATURES

Extra! Extra!

The newspaper industry is collapsing. How to save an American institution.
BY JONATHAN YARDLEY

Are Too Many People Going to College?

America’s university system is creating a class-riven nation. There has to be a better way.
BY CHARLES MURRAY

After Milwaukee

The most important experiment in education markets teaches us valuable lessons.
BY FREDERICK M. HESS

Rocky Mountain High Tech

Boulder, Colorado has become a technology hub. Here’s how.
BY BEN CASNOCHA

Standard Bearer

John D. Rockefeller could not have built his empire without the help of one of America’s greatest entrepreneurs, Henry Flagler.
BY JOHN STEELE GORDON

The Petrobras Exception

How a state oil company succeeds—by not acting like one.
BY ROBERT BRYCE

Have Yourself Committed

The market, combined with technology, can help you help yourself.
BY DANIEL AKST

Airline Traffic Jam

Airlines were deregulated 30 years ago, ushering in the age of affordable air travel. But more must be done to complete the revolution.
BY EVAN SPARKS