PRESS

Deborah and James Fallows are featured in Dani Rodrik’s July 14, 2022 article. Rodrik reports, “There are signs of a major reorientation toward an economic policy framework that is rooted in production, work, and localism instead of finance, consumerism, and globalism. It might just turn into a new policy model that captures imaginations across the political spectrum.”

He references how the Fallows found support for this idea when they traveled across America reporting on how local economic development and pragmatism can override political partisanship when it comes to fostering businesses, job creation, and public-private partnerships.

Read the article here.

The Marion County Library System, in collaboration with Tower Community Bank, inaugurated a new speaker series, featuring authors whose writings and ideas would be of interest to the Marion County community.

Deborah and James Fallows were the first authors in the series.

Read the article here.

In a May 9, 2022 editorial, The Roanoke Times supported the recommendation of the Roanoke Valley Public Libraries to do away with late book fines. They referenced Deborah Fallows’s 2020 article in The Atlantic in which she commented, “When I was a kid, the sin of returning books late to the public library populated a category of dread for me next to weekly confessions to the Catholic priest (what can an 8-year-old really have to confess?) and getting caught by the dentist with a Tootsie Roll wrapper sticking out of my pocket.”

Read the editorial here.

Ball State University’s 2022 Commencement featured Deborah and James Fallows, who gave the Commencement address and received honorary doctorates at the May 7 ceremony in Muncie, Indiana. The Fallowses have written several articles featuring Ball State’s innovative partnership with Muncie Community Schools, among other points of pride in the Muncie community.

President Geoffrey Mearns said during Saturday’s Commencement ceremony, “Through your reporting and through the leadership of your foundation, you are promoting greater civic engagement, community renewal, and genuine dialogue among the citizens of our country.”

Read more here.

Tim Holt, editor of the Northwest Review contrasts the effective “Plan Bs” of towns including Mount Shasta, CA and Ashland, OR with that of his own town, Dunsmuir, CA. He references Deborah and James Fallows’s Our Towns book and its common factors in successfully reinvented towns across the United States, including an openness to newcomers bringing new talents and ideas to their new homes. He states, “In these “open” towns the newcomers often find opportunities to reinvent themselves, to apply whatever skills and talents they may have in new ways in this new, stimulating environment.”

Read the article here.

In their February 19, 2022 editorial, The Frederick News-Post references Deborah and James Fallows’s book Our Towns and its list of traits seen in successful cities, one of which is a hotel. The Frederick County Council recently voted to help the city of Frederick purchase land for the project, a development the paper’s editorial board lauds.

Read the article here.

Flying magazine’s Jonathan Welsh wrote an article featuring Deborah and James Fallowses’ selection of the Cirrus SR22 for their cross-country reporting journey. Welsh goes on to detail the various factors pilots should take into account when deciding on the aircraft that is right for their expected travels.

Read the article here.

Iowa State University’s News reported on the Iowa’s Living Roadways 2021 annual celebration held on November 19, 2021. Highlights of the daylong event included a keynote address by James and Deborah Fallows, authors of “Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America.” The annual celebration also provided the newly selected 2022 visioning communities a glimpse of the possibilities available to them and showcased 25 years of project implementations completed by nearly 50 communities that participated in the Community Visioning Program.

Read the article here.

The Press Enterprise’s David Allen referenced Our Towns in his article on Riverside California’s pedestrian mall, which features six bronze statues. In the chapter on Riverside, the Fallowses describe the statues as forming a “Peace Walk,” something Allen had never considered. The author discusses the history and future of the walk with current and former mayors Patricia Lock Dawson and Ron Loveridge.

Read the article here.

LA Progressive’s November 14, 2021 article featured Deborah Fallows’s reporting on the Fine Free Movement where libraries are eliminating fines, which disproportionally affect the disenfranchised, low-income communities they are meant most to assist. The three public library systems in New York City—Brooklyn Public Library, New York Public Library and Queens Public Library, the largest in the country, are the latest to eliminate late fees.

Read the article here.