The end of the 20th century finds major U.S. cities in the midst of significant change, precipitated by important economic and demographic trends. first, the foundations of the U.S. economy have definitively shifted away from the blue collar “resource economy” of the Industrial Age into the more problematic “knowledge economy” of the Information Age. Second, a fundamental change has occurred in the ethnic composition of the U.S. population, from a European amalgam into a “universal nation.” This article explores the way the citizens of Houston are experiencing and responding to these remarkable changes.