Skip Navigation
James Fallows

James Fallows - James Fallows is a national correspondent for The Atlantic and has written for the magazine since the late 1970s. He has reported extensively from outside the United States, and once worked as President Carter's chief speechwriter. His latest book, China Airborne, will be published in May.
More

James Fallows is based in Washington as a national correspondent for The Atlantic. He has worked for the magazine for nearly 30 years and in that time has also lived in Seattle, Berkeley, Austin, Tokyo, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, and Beijing. He was raised in Redlands, California, received his undergraduate degree in American history and literature from Harvard, and received a graduate degree in economics from Oxford as a Rhodes scholar. In addition to working for The Atlantic, he has spent two years as chief White House speechwriter for Jimmy Carter, two years as the editor of US News & World Report, and six months as a program designer at Microsoft. He is an instrument-rated private pilot. He is also now the chair in U.S. media at the US Studies Centre at the University of Sydney, in Australia.

Fallows has been a finalist for the National Magazine Award five times and has won once; he has also won the American Book Award for nonfiction and a N.Y. Emmy award for the documentary series Doing Business in China. He was the founding chairman of the New America Foundation. His two most recent books, Blind Into Baghdad (2006) and Postcards From Tomorrow Square (2009), are based on his writings for The Atlantic; he is at work on another book about China. He is married to Deborah Fallows, author of the recent book Dreaming in Chinese. They have two married sons.

Fallows welcomes and frequently quotes from reader mail sent via the "Email" button below. Unless you specify otherwise, we consider any incoming mail available for possible quotation -- but not with the sender's real name unless you explicitly state that it may be used. If you are wondering why Fallows does not use a "Comments" field below his posts, please see previous explanations here and here.

With 26 days to go (updated)

By James Fallows
Jul 12 2008, 11:30 PM ET

We heard from friends that skies were blue and clear in Beijing yesterday. Here is the view at 10am on July13, 26 days before the opening ceremonies and one week before the emergency shutdown of factories and traffic is supposed to begin.

 http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r96/jfallows/IMG_4105.jpg

Perhaps not blue, but better than it was eleven days ago and through most of the preceding three months. We'll hope this is a trend.

Update: with 25 days to go, this appears not to have been a trend, at least not a positive one. But only six days now until the sweeping shutdowns. I believe the neighboring factories will close, as advertised. Somewhat more cautious in my assumptions about the cars, since I've met so many people who have mentioned that they've obtained both even- and odd-numbered licenses plates, to cope with the even/odd restrictions on driving each day.



Presented by

More at The Atlantic

Can Full-Metal jousting Become the Next Ultimate Fighting Championship? Can Full-Metal Jousting Become the Next UFC?
In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On In Memphis Classrooms, the Ghost of Segregation Lingers On
Can't We Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Mass Refinancing? Can't We Learn to Stop Worrying and Love Mass Refinancing?
The agony of Nabeel Rajab The Plight of Bahrain's Activist Leader
Using the Internet as Matchmaker: The Drawbacks to Online Dating The Drawbacks to Online Dating
Special Report
Election 2012 Reuters Election 2012
The destination for full politics coverage, from the primaries to the White House. Read more ›
View All Correspondents

The Biggest Story in Photos

Athens in Flames

Feb 13, 2012

Subscribe Now

SAVE 59%! 10 issues JUST $2.45 PER COPY

Facebook

Newsletters

Sign up to receive our free newsletters

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

(sample)

James Fallows
from the Magazine

Obama, Explained

As Barack Obama contends for a second term in office, two conflicting narratives of his presidency…

Barack Obama

Facing huge risks and holding inconclusive intel, the president makes a gutsy call to take out bin…

Hacked!

As email, documents, and almost every aspect of our professional and personal lives moves onto the…