California’s Improbable Navel-Orange Queen
by Deborah Fallows
Eliza Tibbets was a suffragist, abolitionist, and spiritualist—and the mother of California’s orange industry. (Read it here.)
Category Archives: Civic Life
Fresno to South Bend to Louisville: The Elusive Elements of Civic Success
Fresno to South Bend to Louisville: The Elusive Elements of Civic Success
by James Fallows
More cities, more assessments of what works, and why Read it here.
Can Cars Save Downtown?
Can Cars Save Downtown?
by James Fallows
Fresno, California prepares to rip up its landmark pedestrian mall and replace it with a street. (Read it here.)
‘Generation Now’—What People Do, When There Seems to Be Nothing to Do
‘Generation Now’—What People Do, When There Seems to Be Nothing to Do
by James Fallows
The frustrations and inequalities of America’s second Gilded Age are as apparent in San Bernardino, California, as anywhere else in the country. Here is how one group of young people has chosen to respond. (Read it here.)
Asheville Just ‘Happened’ to Develop a Nice Downtown—or Did It?
Asheville Just ‘Happened’ to Develop a Nice Downtown—or Did It?
by James Fallows
In the immortal words from Liberty Valance, “when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” Herewith the legend and reality of Asheville. (Read it here.)
Equal Time for Tampa, and More on Asheville Too
Equal Time for Tampa, and More on Asheville Too
by James Fallows
Catching up with changes in major cities, and in the Atlantic’s own web site (Read it here.)
A Visit to the Shanghai Public Library
A Visit to the Shanghai Public Library
by Deborah Fallows
Aging manuscripts share the building with makerspaces (Read it here.)
More on Nice Downtowns: Do They Just Happen? Or Are They Made?
More on Nice Downtowns: Do They Just Happen? Or Are They Made?
by James Fallows
Tampa has kept trying to revive its downtown, and has kept failing. Asheville has been wildly successful—but was it even trying at all? (Read it here.)
Nice Downtowns: How Did They Get That Way?
Nice Downtowns: How Did They Get That Way?
by James Fallows
“Visitors think, ‘That’s just how Seattle is.’ But it wasn’t.” Lessons via places ranging from Fresno to Shanghai. (Read it here.)
3 Ways of Thinking About Fresno — And Why You Should Care
3 Ways of Thinking About Fresno — And Why You Should Care
by James Fallows
A beleaguered city shows the path toward revival. (Read it here.)
American Futures 