Review : Back to the future

Best summed up as the history of the future, Yesterday’s Tomorrows by Joseph
J. Corn (Johns Hopkins University Press, £20.50/$24.95, ISBN 0 8018
5399 0) looks at American visions of the future since the late 19th century. A
downright scholarly text embellished with lavish illustrations and clear
captions more than meets the needs of the dilettante reader. Remember the
combination airplane-automobile? The various cities of tomorrow? The
nuclear-powered tank? A veritable bag of delights.