James Mackenzie Fallows (born August 2, 1949) is an American writer and journalist. He is a former national correspondent for ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
.'' His work has also appeared in ''
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...
'', ''
The New York Times Magazine
''The New York Times Magazine'' is an American Sunday magazine Supplement (publishing), supplement included with the Sunday edition of ''The New York Times''. It features articles longer than those typically in the newspaper and has attracted man ...
'', ''
The New York Review of Books
''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', ''
The New Yorker
''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...
'' and ''
The American Prospect
''The American Prospect'' is a daily online and bimonthly print American political and public policy magazine dedicated to American modern liberalism and progressivism. Based in Washington, D.C., ''The American Prospect'' says it "is devoted to ...
'', among others. He is a former editor of ''
U.S. News & World Report'', and as President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
's chief
speechwriter
A speechwriter is a person who is hired to prepare and write speeches that will be delivered by another person. Speechwriters are employed by many senior-level elected officials and executives in the government and private sectors. They can also be ...
for two years was the youngest person ever to hold that job.
Fallows has been a visiting professor at a number of universities in the U.S. and
China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
, and has held the Chair in U.S. Media at the
United States Studies Centre
The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney aims to increase understanding of the United States in Australia and enrich the Australia–United States relations, Australia–United States relationship. The centre teaches undergr ...
at
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
. He is the author of eleven books, including ''National Defense'' (1981), for which he received the 1983
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
,
''Looking at the Sun'' (1994), ''Breaking the News'' (1996), ''Blind into Baghdad'' (2006), ''Postcards from Tomorrow Square'' (2009),
''China Airborne'' (2012), and the national best-seller ''Our Towns'' (2018), which was co-written with his wife,
Deborah Fallows, and made into an
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
documentary of the same name in 2021.
Life and career
Fallows was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Jean (née Mackenzie) and James Albert Fallows, a physician. He was raised in
Redlands,
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, and graduated from
Redlands High School
Redlands High School is a high school located in Redlands, California, alongside Redlands East Valley High School and Citrus Valley High School. It is the oldest Californian public high school still functioning on its original site.
History
T ...
. He studied American history and literature at
Harvard College
Harvard College is the undergraduate college of Harvard University, an Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636, Harvard College is the original school of Harvard University, the oldest institution of higher lea ...
, where he was the editor of the daily newspaper, ''
The Harvard Crimson
''The Harvard Crimson'' is the student newspaper of Harvard University and was founded in 1873. Run entirely by Harvard College undergraduates, it served for many years as the only daily newspaper in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Beginning in the f ...
''. From 1970 to 1972, Fallows studied economics at the
Queen's College, Oxford
The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassical architecture, ...
as a
Rhodes scholar
The Rhodes Scholarship is an international postgraduate award for students to study at the University of Oxford, in the United Kingdom.
Established in 1902, it is the oldest graduate scholarship in the world. It is considered among the world' ...
. He subsequently worked as an editor and writer for ''
The Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alterna ...
'' and ''
Texas Monthly
''Texas Monthly'' (stylized as ''TexasMonthly'') is a monthly American magazine headquartered in Downtown Austin, Texas. ''Texas Monthly'' was founded in 1973 by Michael R. Levy and has been published by Emmis Publishing, L.P. since 1998 and is ...
'' magazines.
For the first two years of the
Carter administration he was Carter's chief speechwriter. From 1979 through 1996, he was the Washington Editor for ''The Atlantic Monthly'' (now ''
The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''). For two years of that time he was based in Texas, and for four years in Asia. He wrote for the magazine about immigration, defense policy, politics, economics, computer technology, and other subjects. He has been a finalist for the
National Magazine Awards
The National Magazine Awards, also known as the Ellie Awards, honor print and digital publications that consistently demonstrate superior execution of editorial objectives, innovative techniques, noteworthy enterprise and imaginative design. Or ...
five times and won in 2003, for "The Fifty-First State?" (''The Atlantic'', November 2002), which was published six months before the invasion of Iraq and laid out the difficulties of occupying the country. He won the National Book Award for ''National Defense''
and won a NY Emmy in 2010 for his role as host of a documentary series, ''Doing Business in China''.
Fallows's most influential articles have concerned military policy and military procurement, the college admissions process, technology, China and Japan, and the
American war in Iraq. Early in his career, he wrote an article called "What Did You Do in the Class War, Daddy?" (''Washington Monthly'', October 1975). It described the "draft physical" day at the
Boston Navy Yard
The Boston Navy Yard, originally called the Charlestown Navy Yard and later Boston Naval Shipyard, was one of the oldest shipbuilding facilities in the United States Navy. It was established in 1801 as part of the recent establishment of t ...
in 1970, in which Fallows and his Harvard and
MIT
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
classmates overwhelmingly produced reasons for medical exemptions, while the white working-class men of
Chelsea
Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to:
Places Australia
* Chelsea, Victoria
Canada
* Chelsea, Nova Scotia
* Chelsea, Quebec
United Kingdom
* Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames
** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...
,
were approved for service. He argued that the class bias of the
Vietnam draft, which made it easy for him and for others from influential and affluent families to
avoid service, prolonged the war and that this was a truth many
opponents of the war found convenient to overlook.
In the 1980s and 1990s Fallows was a frequent contributor of commentaries to
National Public Radio
National Public Radio (NPR, stylized in all lowercase) is an American privately and state funded nonprofit media organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It differs from other n ...
's ''
Morning Edition
''Morning Edition'' is an American radio news program produced and distributed by NPR. It airs weekday mornings (Monday through Friday) and runs for two hours, and many stations repeat one or both hours. The show feeds live from 5:00 to 9:00 AM ...
,'' and since 2009 he has been the regular news analyst for NPR's ''
Weekend All Things Considered''. From 1996 to 1998, he was the editor of ''US News & World Report''. He was the founding chairman of the
New America Foundation
New America, formerly the New America Foundation, is a think tank in the United States founded in 1999. It focuses on a range of public policy issues, including national security studies, technology, asset building, health, gender, energy, educa ...
, a nonprofit group based in
Washington D.C. During the 2000–2001 academic year, Fallows taught at the graduate school of journalism at the
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...
, and in 2010 he was the Vare Writer in Residence at the
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...
. Starting in the 2010 academic year, he is a visiting Professor in U.S. Media at the
United States Studies Centre
The United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney aims to increase understanding of the United States in Australia and enrich the Australia–United States relations, Australia–United States relationship. The centre teaches undergr ...
at the
University of Sydney
The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's si ...
.
[Steketee, Mike]
"Urgent Need to Save Quality Journalism, Professor Warns"
''The Australian'', February 16, 2009.
Fallows is an instrument-rated pilot. In ''Free Flight'', published in 2001, he describes the new generation of "
personal jets" and other advanced aircraft now coming onto the market from
Eclipse Aviation
The Eclipse Aviation Corporation was the Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States-based manufacturer of the Eclipse 500 very light jet (VLJ), and also at one time proposed developing the Eclipse 400 single-engined jet.
The company was founded ...
and
Cirrus Design
The Cirrus Design Corporation, doing business as Cirrus Aircraft (formally Cirrus Design), is an aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1984 by Klapmeier brothers, Alan and Dale Klapmeier to produce the Cirrus VK-30, VK-30 homebuilt aircraf ...
, as well as the story of Cirrus founders brothers
Alan and Dale Klapmeier and how they became involved in aviation.
Fallows has received numerous honorary degrees, including from the
University of Utah
The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...
, the
University of Maryland
The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...
, the
University of Redlands
The University of Redlands is a private university headquartered in Redlands, California. The university's main, residential campus is situated on 160 acres (65 ha) near downtown Redlands. An additional eight regional locations throughout Califo ...
,
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
,
Ursinus College
Ursinus College is a private liberal arts college in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1869 and occupies a 170-acre campus.
History
19th century
In 1867, members of the German Reformed Church began plans to establish a college w ...
, and in 2017 the
University of Vermont
The University of Vermont (UVM), officially the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Burlington, Vermont. It was founded in 1791 and is amon ...
.
Fallows has had a long interest in technology, both writing about and helping to develop it. He's taken a special interest in
personal information management
Personal information management (PIM) is the study of the activities people perform in order to acquire or create, store, organize, maintain, retrieve, and use information items such as documents (paper-based and digital), web pages, and email mes ...
software, going back to
Lotus Agenda
Agenda is a DOS-based personal information manager, designed by Mitch Kapor, Ed Belove and Jerry Kaplan, and marketed by Lotus Software.
Lotus Agenda is a "free-form" information manager: the information need not be structured at all before it ...
which he glowingly reviewed for ''The Atlantic'' in 1992 ("Of all the computer programs I have tried, Agenda is far and away the most interesting, and is one of the two or three most valuable"). During the
operating system
An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common services for computer programs.
Time-sharing operating systems schedule tasks for efficient use of the system and may also in ...
wars of the early and mid-nineties, Fallows used and wrote about
IBM's
Operating System/2
OS/2 (Operating System/2) is a series of computer operating systems, initially created by Microsoft and IBM under the leadership of IBM software designer Ed Iacobucci. As a result of a feud between the two companies over how to position OS/2 re ...
(OS/2) and its battles with
MS Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
, often frequenting the Canopus forum and online community on
CompuServe
CompuServe (CompuServe Information Service, also known by its initialism CIS) was an American online service provider, the first major commercial one in the world – described in 1994 as "the oldest of the Big Three information services (the oth ...
. In 1999, he spent six months at
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...
designing software for writers. More recently, he has written about the design of the
Open Source Applications Foundation
The Open Source Applications Foundation (OSAF) was a non-profit organization founded in 2002 by Mitch Kapor whose purpose was to effect widespread adoption of free software/open-source software.
History
Founded in 2002 by Mitch Kapor to effec ...
's information manager, code-named
Chandler
Chandler or The Chandler may refer to:
* Chandler (occupation), originally head of the medieval household office responsible for candles, now a person who makes or sells candles
* Ship chandler, a dealer in supplies or equipment for ships
Arts ...
. He was the on-stage host for the
IDG
International Data Group (IDG, Inc.) is a market intelligence and demand generation company focused on the technology industry. IDG, Inc.’s mission is centered around supporting the technology industry through research, data, marketing technol ...
Corporation's "Agenda" conference (no relation to Agenda software) in the early years of the 2000s (decade) and of
Google
Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...
's "
Zeitgeist
In 18th- and 19th-century German philosophy, a ''Zeitgeist'' () ("spirit of the age") is an invisible agent, force or Daemon dominating the characteristics of a given epoch in world history.
Now, the term is usually associated with Georg W. F. ...
" conference starting in 2005. He has written regular technology columns for ''The New York Times'' and ''The Atlantic''.
In September 2021, Fallows launched a
Substack
Substack is an American online platform that provides publishing, payment, analytics, and design infrastructure to support subscription newsletters. It allows writers to send digital newsletters directly to subscribers. Founded in 2017, Substack ...
site called ''Breaking the News'', whose title was based on his 1996 book of the same name.
Politics
Fallows, a former speechwriter for Democratic President
Jimmy Carter
James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...
, has identified himself as a
Democrat
Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to:
Politics
*A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people.
*A member of a Democratic Party:
**Democratic Party (United States) (D)
**Democratic ...
and has been described by ''
Politico
''Politico'' (stylized in all caps), known originally as ''The Politico'', is an American, German-owned political journalism newspaper company based in Arlington County, Virginia, that covers politics and policy in the United States and intern ...
'' and ''
The Hill'', among other publications, as a
liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
. According to journalist
Howard Fineman
Howard David Fineman (born November 17, 1948) is an American journalist who is global editorial director of the AOL Huffington Post Media Group. Prior to his move to Huffington Post in October 2010, he was Newsweek's chief political corresponde ...
, Fallows also wrote policy memos to Democratic President
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
. An article in ''The Futurist'', a publication of the
World Future Society
The World Future Society (WFS), founded in 1966, is an international community of futurists and future thinkers.
History
Prominent members and contributors have included Ray Kurzweil, Peter Drucker, Carl Sagan, and Neil deGrasse Tyson
N ...
, identifies Fallows as a
radical centrist.
Awards
For the first paperback edition of ''National Defense'', Fallows received a 1983
National Book Award for Nonfiction
The National Book Award for Nonfiction is one of five U.S. annual National Book Awards, which are given by the National Book Foundation to recognize outstanding literary work by U.S. citizens. They are awards "by writers to writers". The panelists ...
.
["National Book Awards – 1983"]
National Book Foundation
The National Book Foundation (NBF) is an American nonprofit organization established, "to raise the cultural appreciation of great writing in America". Established in 1989 by National Book Awards, Inc.,Edwin McDowell. "Book Notes: 'The Joy Luc ...
. Retrieved 2012-03-11.
He was a finalist at the National Magazine Award in the years 1988, 2006 (twice), 2007 and had won the award in 2003 for his article ''The Fifty-First State?''. The documentary series ''On The Frontlines: Doing Business in China'' in which he participated as an editorial supervisor and co-host (together with Emily Chang) was awarded the 2010 Emmy Award.
He was elected to the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
in 2019.
Genetic ancestry
In 2012, Fallows gained notice for the results of the testing of his genetic makeup. In addition to the fact that the lineage shown on the mitochondrial DNA of his mother's side did not resemble any other samples found in a large-scale study, it was shown that Fallows had an abnormally high percentage of
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While th ...
ancestry, at 5% of his genes being of Neanderthal origin. This drew attention from numerous scientists.
Personal life
Fallows is married to writer and researcher
Deborah Fallows, with whom he has two sons. The book ''Our Towns'' (2018) was co-authored and researched by the couple, which became the basis for an
HBO
Home Box Office (HBO) is an American premium television network, which is the flagship property of namesake parent subsidiary Home Box Office, Inc., itself a unit owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The overall Home Box Office business unit is ba ...
documentary film in 2021.
HBO - Our Towns
/ref>
Publications
Books
*
*
* ''National Defense'' (1981). Random House.
** One of three excerpts from ''National Defense'' published in ''The Atlantic
''The Atlantic'' is an American magazine and multi-platform publisher. It features articles in the fields of politics, foreign affairs, business and the economy, culture and the arts, technology, and science.
It was founded in 1857 in Boston, ...
''.
* ''More Like Us: Making America Great Again'' (1989). Houghton Mifflin.
* ''Looking at the Sun: The Rise of the New East Asian Economic and Political System'' (1994). Vintage Paperback (reprint ed, 1995)
* ''Breaking the News: How the Media Undermine American Democracy'' (1996). Pantheon Books. . Vintage Paperback (1997)
* ''Free Flight: Inventing the Future of Travel'' (2001). PublicAffairs Paperback (2002)
* ''Blind into Baghdad: America's War in Iraq'' (2006). Vintage.
* ''Postcards from Tomorrow Square: Reports from China'' (2009) Knopf.
* ''China Airborne'' (2012) Random House.
*
Essays and reporting
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Notes
References
External links
Fallows's ''Substack'' website
Fallows's ''Atlantic'' website
Audio of lecture delivered to the World Affairs Council of Northern California
Audio/Video recording
of James Fallows on his book ''Blind Into Baghdad: America's War in Iraq'' as part of the University of Chicago'
World Beyond the Headlines
series
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fallows, James
1949 births
21st-century American non-fiction writers
Alumni of The Queen's College, Oxford
American aviators
American bloggers
American Esperantists
American male bloggers
American male journalists
American political writers
American radio journalists
American Rhodes Scholars
California Democrats
Carter administration personnel
Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
Harvard College alumni
Living people
National Book Award winners
New America (organization)
Pennsylvania Democrats
People from Redlands, California
Radical centrist writers
Speechwriters for presidents of the United States
The Atlantic (magazine) people
The Harvard Crimson people
Vietnam War draft evaders
Writers from California
Writers from Philadelphia