James Fallows and Deborah Fallows, "Our Towns"

James Fallows and Deborah Fallows discuss their book, "Our Towns" at Politics and Prose at the Wharf on 5/9/18.

James and Deborah Fallows, authors of China Airborne and Dreaming in Chinese, respectively, set out in 2013 to explore America town by town. They crisscrossed the country for nearly five years, traveling from Maine to South Dakota to California to Kentucky. As they talked to civic leaders, workers, entrepreneurs, recent immigrants and many others, the authors found that the diverse stories they heard formed an inspiring narrative about the energy, complexity, and strength of our country. Unlike others who have gone in search of America, the Fallows didn’t travel overland but flew in a single-engine prop plane, which gave them a fresh perspective on American history, geography, urban planning, and environmental conditions. And unlike many reports of today’s divided, frustrated nation, the Fallows’ engaging travelogue shows us a country animated by a spirit of renewal.

JAMES FALLOWS has been a national correspondent for The Atlantic for more than thirty-five years, reporting from China, Japan, Southeast Asia, Europe, and across the United States. He is the author of eleven previous books. His work has also appeared in many other magazines and as public-radio commentaries since the 1980s. He has won a National Book Award and a National Magazine Award. For two years he was President Jimmy Carter's chief speechwriter. DEBORAH FALLOWS is a linguist and writer who holds a PhD in theoretical linguistics and is the author of two previous books. She has written for The Atlantic, National Geographic, Slate, The New York Times, and The Washington Monthly, and has worked at the Pew Research Center, Oxygen Media, and Georgetown University. She and her husband have two sons and four grandchildren.

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Produced by Tom Warren