‘Lessons From Danville’
This summer, Deb Fallows and I visited the southern-Virginia town of Danville, and the surrounding rural areas of Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and the adjoining Caswell County, North Carolina. In its…
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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.
There’s Hope for Local Journalism
Everyone knows that local newspapers are in trouble. That’s why Deb Fallows and I have been chronicling examples of smaller papers that have bucked the economic trend—in Mississippi, in coastal Maine, in rural…
‘Local, Local, Local’: How a Small Newspaper Survives
This is another road report on the state of local journalism, which is more and more important, and more and more imperiled.
It is important because so much of the future of American economic, cultural, and civic life is now being devised and determined at the local or state level.
The Power of a Community College
Last week I reported on a conference of community-college leaders that Deb Fallows and I attended in Michigan, and about some of the reasons we’ve come to believe that community colleges are…
The Choices Facing Community Colleges
Decisions critical to the future of these institutions so crucial to this economic and political moment
Three Big Lessons From One Small Town
Connections, parallel themes, and lessons from Danville
Sioux Falls is Ready for Tom Hanks
A year ago, America’s Favorite Actor™, Tom Hanks, triggered a series of reports on TV and in the Argus Leader newspaper in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. He did so with one little…
The American Sense of Place
An update: Reactions from readers and significant local-renewal developments
The Rituals of ‘Becoming America’
Can 'civic religion' help America become a better, freer, fairer, finer version of itself?
Report for America Revives Possibilities for Local Journalism
A promising movement, in discouraging times.
An American Story, Starting in Kosovo
Idealistic people from outside America's borders have continually prompted the country to live up to its own ideals; an example from Erie.
How Danville Has Avoided Omaha’s Mistake
How the bittersweet heritage of old buildings in Danville, Virginia has helped them avoid the mistakes of Omaha..
Bitwise Goes Big
Fresno tech startup, Bitwise gets $27 million in funding to expand its operations.
The Reinvention of a Downtown: Danville’s Story Part 2
A snapshot of the efforts paying off in reviving Danville's downtown.
The Reinvention of Danville’s Downtown: Part 1
A factory town coming back
What Does All This Local Reporting Add Up To?
Yesterday, Deb Fallows and I sent an email to various loyal readers of The Atlantic. You can see what was in that message in the “Continue Reading” section of this post.…