Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

J. D. Vance

Jun 2016 · HarperCollins

About this ebook

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

"A riveting book."—The Wall Street Journal

"Essential reading."—David Brooks, New York Times

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class

Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over forty years, has been reported on with growing frequency and alarm, but has never before been written about as searingly from the inside. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like when you were born with it hung around your neck.

The Vance family story begins hopefully in postwar America. J. D.’s grandparents were “dirt poor and in love,” and moved north from Kentucky’s Appalachia region to Ohio in the hopes of escaping the dreadful poverty around them. They raised a middle-class family, and eventually their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.

But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother, struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their chaotic family history.

A deeply moving memoir with its share of humor and vividly colorful figures, Hillbilly Elegy is the story of how upward mobility really feels. And it is an urgent and troubling meditation on the loss of the American dream for a large segment of this country.

Ratings and reviews

Myself being from this part of the world enjoyed this book Tremendously . Having a Mamaw from eastern Kentucky and a family that moved to Cincinnati , Ohio to make a better life for there children . Only escaping the life that I saw unfolding before my eyes I joined the US ARMY and escaped also . So many feeling were brought up of my family and friends that I couldn't put this down . Today My grandchildren call me Papaw . I hope that there are a lot of parents and grandparents that will read this book . We do make a lot of difference in the lives of our children . Thanks for this read JD .

This book shows a genuine inside look at a hillbilly's life. Honestly, I myself prefer fantasy and epic adventure, but this book is easy to follow and transitions from one topic to another easily. It is short enough that a reader can retain information as reading and not feel utterly bored by the end. It leaves me feeling reflective and desirous to change and be better. I would recommend this to students who are still learning to take responsibility in their lives, and give it a 4 star rating.

Frustrated at the culture that traps so many people in a cycle of hopelessness, J.D. showed me painful stories and brutally honest insights about life as a hillbilly, and his subsequent "escape." Listening to his words like a friend over a long cup of coffee, I realized that I can't make assumptions about anyone's background. Please, read this thoughtful memoir.

About the author

J.D. Vance grew up in the Rust Belt city of Middletown, Ohio, and the Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served in Iraq. A graduate of the Ohio State University and Yale Law School, he has contributed to the National Review and is a principal at a leading Silicon Valley investment firm. Vance lives in San Francisco with his wife and two dogs. Author mail for J.D. Vance can be sent to the below: P.O. Box 1040 West Chester, OH 45071