Advance book copies for Our Towns: Indiana Tour available at Trine bookstore

ANGOLA (03/13/2019) — Paperback copies of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America are available at the Trine University Bookstore in the Rick L. & Vicki L. James University Center, in advance of the Indiana Humanities' Our Towns: Indiana Tour stop in Angola on March 21.

The event features an INconversation with James and Deborah Fallows at the Brokaw Movie House. Urban planner Adam Thies will moderate the event, which is sponsored by Indiana Humanities and New America Indianapolis and supported by Ruoff Home Mortgage.

Authors of Our Towns: A 100,000-Mile Journey into the Heart of America, James and Deborah Fallows will join Thies for a conversation about what thriving towns and cities have in common, who's trying new ideas that work and how Hoosiers are working through differences to solve local problems.

A national correspondent for The Atlantic for more than 35 years, James Fallows is the author of 12 books and the recipient of a National Book Award, a National Magazine Award and a documentary Emmy. He studied American history and literature at Harvard and economics at Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar and worked for two years in the White House as President Jimmy Carter's chief speechwriter.

Deborah Fallows is a linguist and a writer who holds a PhD in theoretical linguistics. She is the author of two previous books and has written for many publications, including The Atlantic, National Geographic, Slate, the New York Times and Washington Monthly. Most recently, she was a senior research fellow at the Pew Research Center.

Thies, a northeast Indiana native, worked on the redevelopment of Angola's downtown before moving to Indianapolis and serving as the city's director of metropolitan development under Mayor Greg Ballard. He is currently assistant vice president of capital and planning at Indiana University.

The INconversation will be held from 6:30-8 p.m., with doors open at 6 p.m. A book-signing reception, including book sales, will follow. Registration is encouraged, but not required, and seating is first come, first served.

The tour will make three other stops along the I-69 corridor-Fort Wayne, Indianapolis and Muncie-where committed, creative and practical-minded people are finding surprising solutions to tough questions faced by smaller communities.

The Our Towns: Indiana Tour is the kickoff event for Indiana Humanities' new thematic initiative, INseparable, which invites Hoosiers to explore how we relate to each other across boundaries, real or imagined, and consider what it will take to indeed be inseparable, in all the ways that matter. Like New America Indianapolis, Indiana Humanities believes greater connectivity will improve our neighborhoods, communities and state. For more information, email info@indianahumanities.org or visit indianahumanities.org.