Theodore Sedgwick Distinguished Lecture featuring Deborah and James Fallows

Theodore Sedgwick Distinguished Lecture Series
Presented by the University of Louisville’s
Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute
In collaboration with The Filson Historical Society

What Makes a Healthy Community

Deborah & James Fallows

Event is free and open to all. Registration is required.

Over the past decade, Deborah and James Fallows have traveled all around the United States, learning what makes communities grow and thrive. The results were featured in their nationally best-selling book Our Towns and the HBO documentary of the same name. They will share some of the principles they have learned, discuss their application to communities like ours, and ask about the signs of greater Louisville’s health and success. The lecture will be followed by light refreshments.

Deborah Fallows is a writer and linguist. She has written extensively on language, education, families and work, China, and travel for leading national news outlets and magazines. Most recently, she has been a fellow at New America, and has worked at the Pew Research Center and Georgetown University.

James Fallows has been a longtime radio commentator and magazine and book writer, mainly for The Atlantic and now on Substack. He has reported from around the world, including extended stays in Japan and China. He has written 12 books and won the American Book Award, the National Magazine Award, and a documentary Emmy.

Starting ten years ago, Deborah and James Fallows have crisscrossed the country and reported on the civic and economic renewal of America’s towns. Their book about the project, Our Towns: A 100,000 Mile Journey into the Heart of America, a New York Times bestseller, was published in 2018. The book served as inspiration for both a 2021 HBO documentary and the Our Towns Civic Foundation, which is a non-profit organization founded on the concept that the sources of American renewal are mainly at the community level.