Where Local People Build Local Change

2023 Book Prize Winner Michelle Wilde Anderson Says Strong Communities Need New Narratives, New Networks—And Investments in the People Who Already Live There

Four of the poorest, most maligned places in America have become beacons of hope—and burgeoning centers of trust, in people and local government—since going broke in the Great Recession. How did they pull themselves up from an especially low point, and what can the rest of the country learn from them?

This was the subject of 2023 Zócalo Book Prize winner Michelle Wilde Anderson’s The Fight to Save the Town: Reimagining Discarded America, which we honored last night as the year’s best nonfiction book exploring community and social connection at the …

In the Aloha State, All (Identity) Politics Is Local

Despite Their Diverse Backgrounds, Hawaiians Prefer to Distinguish Themselves by Their Island Roots

A great novelty about Hawaii, at least among American states, is the extent of its ethnic diversity. White missionaries from the mainland and their descendants may have long dominated the …