I recently finished reading Our Towns by James and Deborah Fallows. I heard a lot of the press attention last year about the book (which was originally a series for The Atlantic), but did not finally pick it up until the confluence of two events. First, a colleague and I are embarking on a new place-based research project likely focusing on cities of the third class in Pennsylvania. Second, my wife and I bought a house in Middletown, a slowly growing (and fragmented) borough near our campus. We are now directly invested in the borough’s future success, so I was drawn to the Fallows book and what I could glean for both of these ventures.

The concept of the book is fascinating. The Fallows own a small plane and over the course of three years they flew over 100,000 miles across the United States visiting towns of varying size. Stops included dustbowl towns with a single or no stoplight, up to larger cities like Pittsburgh. They ended their book right here in Pennsylvania by visiting the recovering town of Erie. The book intermixes observations of each town – often focusing on different aspects of the town’s success and its struggles – and their observations while flying. The descriptions of their flights made me long to take a small plane ride across America. I have always enjoyed the brief landing and take-off times on major flights that allow for overhead views of large cities, but spending more time at a lower altitude sounds wonderful.

I must disclose that I was told about the book’s 10 and 1/2 concluding signs of civic success before reading, but knowing them ahead of time made apparent how subtly, but directly, the authors were drawing those lessons out of each chapter. The list is fascinating because it cannot be shoehorned ideologically. Signs include openness to immigrants and the presence of unusual schools (with some implications of school choice, though without strict reliance on the private sector). This is reflective of the first sign, which is avoiding the divisiveness present in national issues. That is often the fun of local politics, the orientation towards practical solutions to problems, with less ideological sparing. As a social scientist, it would be interesting to map these 10.5 markers onto measurable variables and see if they in fact generalize across diverse local communities. It would also be interesting to evaluate their correlation with other concepts, like Richard Florida’s creative class.

My one criticism of the book is that while the narrative is conversational and accessible, it does not always seem on point. There were times when I just wanted to finish a chapter about a town (or the plane) because it seemed to veer from the main arc of the story – how towns manage to succeed.

In all, this is an easy, yet intellectually stimulating, read about American towns. It was a perfect vacation read for a nerdy social scientist.