Our Towns ― A 100,000-mile Journey into the Heart of America

A unique, revelatory portrait of the civic and economic renewal already taking place across America, town by town and generally out of view of the national media. A surprisingly hopeful view of the country between its coasts.

For the last five years, James and Deborah Fallows have been traveling across America in a single-engine prop airplane, visiting smaller and medium-sized cities and meeting civic leaders, factory workers, recent immigrants, and young entrepreneurs to take the pulse and understand the prospects of places that usually draw notice only after a disaster or during a political campaign. Our Towns is the story of their journey—and an account of a country busy remaking itself, despite the challenges and paralysis of national politics.

JAMES FALLOWS has been a national correspondent for The Atlantic for over thirty years, a former editor at U.S. News & World Reports, and President Jimmy Carter's chief speechwriter. 

DEBORAH FALLOWS is the author of Dreaming in Chinese: Mandarin Lessons in Life, Love, and Language.