The Enduring Power of Place
Americans like to know where they are from—and like to think about where they might go. These contradictory realities are part of America's past, and of its future opportunities.
Posts by author
James Fallows
356 posts
James Fallows is a longtime correspondent for The Atlantic magazine. He has reported for the magazine from around the world since the late 1970s, including extended assignments in China, Japan, and Southeast Asia, and within the United States in Texas, Washington state, and California. He has written 12 books and won the American Book Award, the National Magazine Award, and a documentary Emmy. He has also done extensive commentary on National Public Radio.
How Story Maps Drive Progress
At Our Towns, we’ve been following the tools and applications of geospatial information systems (GIS), as they have progressed from promise to delivery. GIS helps in countless ways: for cities…
Local Action with Global Effects: the Saga of the Leaf Blower
We've just lived through 50 years of an invention that transformed neighborhood life in much of America, the gas-powered leaf blower. That era is coming to an end.
‘With the Wind at our Back’
Ten years in, a promising change in the national mood. Now, what comes next.
Reviving America, One College Town at a Time
How symbiotic relationships between colleges and their communities have reaped rewards in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Waterville, Maine.
What’s the Quickest Way to Make a Big Difference, Through a Little Step? It’s Right There in the Backyard.
Change comes slowly, then all at once.
Another Look Into the ‘Heart’ of America
First, a geographic perspective. Then, the country's struggle to recognize ways in which it is changing—and might be improving.
‘We Fly,’ in Indiana
It's time to judge colleges by their contributions to the economic and civic life of their communities. Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana, passes the test brilliantly.
‘To Arrive Where We Started and Know the Place for the First Time’
The America that Americans Don't Know About, and Why That Matters
‘When Gown Embraces Town’: Two Stories from Indiana
What is happening in the 'Middletown' of Muncie, and why it matters.
![Historical view of the Amphitheater at the Chautauqua Institution in New York, scene of Friday, Aug. 12's attack on Salman Rushdie. [Image from New York Public Library via Wikimedia Commons.]](https://www.ourtownsfoundation.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Section_of_Amphitheater_Chautauqua_Institution_Chautauqua_New_York_NYPL_b12647398-79479.jpg)
What Happened at Chautauqua, and Why It Matters
Friday, Aug. 12, an assailant rushed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution. He stabbed Salman Rushdie in the neck and abdomen. Rushdie was not the only victim in this attack.
Inside Our Towns: Project Fighting Chance
Evan Sanford and James Fallows talk with Ian Franklin and Terry Boykins about Project Fighting Chance -- a boxing gym that is more than a boxing gym in San Bernardino. They discuss how it got started, how it has grown, and an immediate challenge it faces today.
‘Mapping Common Ground’: What I learned this summer in San Diego
New reason to “think globally, and act locally.”
Why Story Maps Matter
People understand the world through stories. People absorb their stories in ever-expanding ways. Here is a preview of a powerful, emerging form of digital story-telling, which we’ll be using frequently in this space.
A New Partnership: Community Heart & Soul
Community Heart & Soul and Our Towns Civic Foundation are collaborating to bring national attention to the stories of innovation and renewal in small cities and towns across the United States.
Cooperation, Calm, and Competence: This Is How It Sounds
In the skies over Dulles airport last week, pilots and controllers gave an example of grace under pressure.