‘Our Erie’ Tells Its Story

As we’ve been working away on our book based on our “American Futures” travels over the past four…

Meanwhile in America: ‘New Americans’ in the Rust Belt

If you’ve read or heard about Erie, Pennsylvania, since the election, it’s likely to be with framing as “declining Rust…

‘Let's Care About Someone Who Does Not Belong to Our Tribe’

We could use a little positive news at the moment, right? Here you go: Over the past three years…

The End of the Journey

Arriving in Tucson, we felt the inklings of coming full circle with our American Futures project. Only one more leg…

In Flight

We took off west from Demopolis, Alabama, prepared for a lot of flying ahead on this last journey for The…

Flying Into the Deep South

We woke up in Demopolis, Alabama, on day two of the final journey of our American Futures series for The…

A Big Step for Little Eastport

Since our first visit in the fall of 2013, Deb and I have reported frequently on the grit, vision, resilience,…

Farewell to Washington

Montgomery County traffic, Cirrus Four-Three-Five Sierra Romeo taking Runway One-Four, VFR (visual flight rules) departure to the west, Montgomery. …

Happy New Year: See You in June

For me this is the third post of the day, and probably the last in this space for quite a…

All Progress Is Local: New Year’s Notes From Around the Country

This is the first of three posts on this New Year’s Day, building toward a change in (my part of)…

Returning to Ohio

How a small, Midwestern town has changed over the decades—and where it aims to go

A Post-Election Field Report From America's Refugees and Immigrants

Words and stories from the towns where the newest Americans live

Missing Thanksgiving Day

When you are an American living overseas, Thanksgiving is an even more powerful nationally unifying holiday than the Fourth of…

The Treasures of Birmingham

For almost a century, the local library has guarded its city's history.

Why Not Dodge? Why Not Stockton?

I mentioned yesterday that several local initiatives could mean as much to their communities or states as the outcome of…

What the Renewable-Energy Economy Looks Like

At its peak, nearly one century ago in 1920, the coal-mining industry employed nearly 800,000 people in the United States.…

Update on the Eastport Saga

The Boston Globe had a story over the weekend about the never-say-die small city of Eastport, Maine. As we’ve been…

Refugees, Immigrants, and the Battle Over Who Is American

Deb Fallows has a new post up, about what’s actually involved in settling immigrants from Syria—or Somalia or Congo…

What It Takes to Settle Refugees

The people of Erie, Pennsylvania, have welcomed immigrants and refugees, and believe that their town is better off for having done so.

Annals of Renewal: MTP Podcast, Knight Competition

1) Meet the Press podcast. Yesterday afternoon I spoke with Chuck Todd for his podcast; the segment has gone…

The Generational Difference in Optimism: A Video Look

I hope you'll check out the second in the series of short films that The Atlantic’s video team has done…

Are America's Small Towns Really Struggling?

A tour of three cities that are finding unique ways to mitigate the country's jobs crisis

Is America in a Boiling Fury About Immigration? Not the America I Have Seen

Over the past year-plus my wife Deb and I have been arguing that the “build a wall!”-style anti-immigration furor in…

And Now for Something Saner and More Positive: Fresno, Erie

Not to over-personalize, but I feel as if my life in the past few weeks recapitulates the argument my wife…

Life in the Air

Getting from here to there by small plane

Old City, Old Buildings, New Life

An art museum with a long history reinvents itself with passion and an entrepreneurial spirit.

Beyond Books: Libraries Reach Out to the Public

During our American Futures tour around the country over the past three years, Jim and I have seen libraries, one…

The Ebbs and Flows of Coastal Maine

Quoddy Village was built ahead of its time.

Erie's Unlikely Benefactor: Its Casino

Legalized gambling is a familiar part of the modern American landscape. But an innovative scheme in a lakeside city in western Pennsylvania shows new possibilities for putting casino revenue to positive public use.

Cattle Drives in Down East Maine

Last night my wife Deb put up a report called “Little Town, Big Art.” It’s about how a…

Little Town, Big Art

“The arts” might seem a frill or nicety. In Eastport, Maine, they’ve been at the center of economic and civic plans and have helped the little city “punch above its weight.”

A Waterfront Library

In Erie, Pennsylvania, a public institution is building on its nautical past to open a world of opportunity for local residents.

The World Comes to a Tiny Town: Eastport's Lesson in Globalization

Even the most remote-seeming corners of America can find themselves in the middle of quick-moving global trends.

Eastport Update: Electric Power From the Sea

Early in 2014, I wrote a magazine article about the 1,300 residents of Eastport, Maine, with the title “The…

Notes From the Rest of the Country: 'Now That I've Got a Look at This Place, It's Not So Bad!'

My wife Deb and I are on the road again this week, but as a reminder of the ongoing theme…

'America Is a Dream Country'

What does it mean to spend years as a Syrian refugee and then land in a brand new life in Erie, Pennsylvania?

Erie and America

The challenges of Rust Belt America are real, and well-known. What’s less familiar is the response some mid-sized cities are making.

The Education of Ryan Lochte

What he could learn from America’s public pools

A Carnegie Legacy in Dodge City

Synergy of arts and civic life in a Kansas town

Dodge City Postcard

Notes from the ground, from the sky, and from the people of Dodge City, Kansas

What's (Less) the Matter With Kansas

This week’s election news out of Kansas was the defeat in the GOP primaries of some of the hardest-line Tea…

Educating Migrant Children in Dodge City

“We’re a port of entry 1,000 miles from the border.”

A Different Kind of 'Trump Nation' Report

Western Kansas, where Deb and I have spent time over the past month, is the heart of Trump Nation in…

Dodge City's New Frontier

A high school in the famed Kansas town is embracing its rapidly changing demographics.

New Pioneers in Southwest Kansas

Mexican immigrants on the Great Plains try to build new lives, with hope and help.

The Story of Ernestor

Dodge City, Kansas relies on undocumented immigrants—from meatpacking workers to the city’s assistant finance director.

From the Air Traffic Controller's Perspective

Two days ago I mentioned the unflappable, multi-tasking and multi-dimensional competence with which an air-traffic controller at Denver’s Centennial airport…

View From the Right Seat

During our more than 50,000 miles of flight for our American Futures project, I’ve sat in the “right seat”…

The Air Traffic Ballet

During our travels Deb has often mentioned our interest in, and nearly-all-times admiration for, the Air Traffic Controllers with whom…

What Rural Economies Look Like From Above

In Kansas, the advent of an energy industry is inscribing itself on the physical landscape, adding wind farms to wheat farms.

A Note About Trumpism, From the 'Real America'

For the past week my wife Deb and I have been in western Kansas — Dodge City mainly, also Garden…

The Multi-Dimensional Reality of the Nation, vs. the Flattened Reality of National Politics

My wife Deb and I have started out on the road again—northern Texas recently, now western Kansas, with a diversion…

More on the Public Role in Fostering Private Innovation

A few days ago I argued that the Maker Movement finally depends on the ingenuity and effort of private entrepreneurs…

America by Air: Whitewater

In one way or another, all Clinton-era “scandals” trace back to Whitewater. That was the late-1970s Arkansas real estate deal…

The Maker Movement: If Hamilton Were Around, He Would Be a Fan

The previous two installments in this series, “The Tools Revolution” and “Agility,” of course concentrated on…

A Good Start: Bobby's Story

One of my favorite features of our American Futures project is the occasional serendipity of crossing the path of some…

Finding Health Care in the Desert

With the closest hospital 100 miles away, Ajo, Arizona’s Desert Senita Health Center acts as the region’s clinic.

The Surprising Problem With U.S. Manufacturing: It's Creating Too Many Jobs

An ongoing theme of our reports from “career technical” schools—like this high school in Georgia and this community college in…

The Maker Revolution: What It Has Changed, and What It Hasn't — Yet

After these two articles on why the Maker Movement matters — “Part 1, the Tools Revolution” and “Part…

Why the Maker Movement Matters: Part 2, Agility

Business are finding that “makerspaces” enable them to reduce what’s known as the mind-to-market gap: how long it takes for an idea to become a thing on a shelf.