THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER IS NOW A MAJOR-MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD AND STARRING AMY ADAMS, GLENN CLOSE, AND GABRIEL BASSO“You will not read a more important book about America this year.“—The Economist “A riveting book.”—The Wall Street Journal“Essential reading.”—David Brooks, New York TimesHillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of … Journal
“Essential reading.”—David Brooks, New York Times
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported 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 one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.’s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his 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.
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This book is a portrait of white, working-class, Appalachia/Rust Belt families and the culture that is inextricably tied to the socioeconomic structures that affect these families. The parallels to my life are pretty stark. I know a lot of people who talk like, think like, believe like, and behave like the family members depicted in this memoir.
This book is great because it doesn’t attempt to solve Appalachian poverty or understand populist sentiment in that subculture of America. What it does is couch these common experiences in the broader context of American society and economics. And that is an incredibly valuable perspective.
I particularly connected with the depictions of the author once he “got out” of his hometown and found himself surrounded by, and sometimes uncomfortably tense about, people of a different socioeconomic background and the culture shock that never quite goes away. I also resonated with his struggle with conflict management, as it so clearly mirrored explosive relationships I have survived with people who came from that upbringing. The early chapters depicting his childhood are compelling and vivid and felt relevant to many experiences I either had or witnessed during my childhood in Ohio and Tennessee.
A thoughtful and important read. Highly recommend.
I was raised just outside the Appalachia region of Virginia, in a county where, with a fifteen minute drive in almost any direction, you could land in some of the most rural parts of the state. The hillbilly story Vance tells is a familiar one to me. It was always part of the narrative of my state growing up, and while my own family are Texans, not hill people, my grandmother’s clan in the flat planes outside Dallas reminded me fiercely of Vance’s family. The patterns repeat themselves in towns like the one where my parents were born, regardless of geography: the prescription to family loyalty, the lack of formal education and the staying in the same place where you born, the multiple marriages, often starting young, the predisposition to addiction and divorce, even the hero-worship of men who carry a unique and often problematic moral code. When I first heard about this book, I felt the need to read it not because I thought it would fundamentally change the way I thought about white working class voters in our most recent election, but because I thought it would bring new clarity and depth to a story I always knew by proximity. And while it certainly did that, I was surprised to also find in this book a memoir that spoke very deeply to a part of me and my father’s family that I had never quite grasped. Hillbilly Elegy is incredibly well-written and well-told, and I absolutely recommend picking it up, regardless of your own background.
If you’re looking for a book that will help you understand the forces beneath Donald Trump’s rise, Hillbilly Elegy is a pretty good option.
Though it touches on politics and policy, the book is not strong in these areas. Instead, it is best when taken simply as the story of one boy’s difficult childhood in small-town Southern Ohio, followed by his adjustment to life at Yale Law School. The contrast in opportunities and culture seem to capture the challenges our country faces today.
Hillbilly Elegy was interesting and very readable — I finished it in a few days. The book got a lot of hype over the summer as an explanation of the demographics leading to Donald Trump’s rise to the top of the Republican ticket, so that’s what I was expecting — popular nonfiction, basically. Instead, I was surprised to find a thoughtful memoir of someone who grew up in a very rough situation and managed to persevere. (The first 2/3rds were stronger than the last 1/3rd, but I’d still recommend it overall!)
Interesting perspective on poverty and the benefits of education. Very readable and relatable.
I received this book as a gift from a friend who has a good sense of both what I write and what I enjoy reading. At first, I wondered why she gave it to me, but I became hooked as I turned the pages. The story tracks the author’s progression from the “hollers” of Kentucky to the Marines and finally, Yale Law School. He tells his tale in a compelling manner that rivals any good novel of fiction. Vance provides his sense of why this group, which descends from the initial migration of Scots-Irish to Appalachia, struggles to achieve the American dream. I don’t agree with every conclusion he’s drawn from his experience, but that’s part of what makes it an interesting read. The take-away that resonated with me deeply is his clear conclusion that the support of an extended family member or a counselor/teacher can make all the difference in the trajectory of someone’s life. Hillbilly Elegy is both interesting and controversial—not a bad combination.
An important book about the decline of the working class in America due to the elimination of many jobs in the manufacturing sector of the economy. However, this decline is also largely due to defects in the culture causing self-destructive behaviors such as drug and alcohol addiction, failed marriages and other problems. Vance emphasizes the importance of individuals taking responsibility for their own lives too end this self-destructive cycle. His own history shows that this is possible since he was born to a Kentucky working-class mother with addiction problems and multiple marriages, but he was able to eventually attend Yale law school and rise to the upper middle class. But he was only able to do this with the support and guidance of his maternal grandparents, who taught him the importance of the value of education and personal responsibility.
This book for me completes a trilogy that gives a stark picture of how the American dream has turned dark in recent decades. Along with Eviction and Janesville, Hillbilly Elegy shows the impact of America’s middle class tumble into working poor and how unevenly economic progress has been distributed.
It’s a book that at times makes you cringe, at others laugh, but in the end leaves you optimistic that American ingenuity can find a way to right the system’s wrongs.
A great addition to books that give an unflinching look at America’s troubles and how they may be overcome.
Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance is a stark, beautifully written and sometimes humorous memoir about the author’s growing-up years in a troubled family. Vance’s Appalachian family was originally from Jackson, Kentucky, but later moved to the “Rust Belt” of Middletown, Ohio. In his memoir Vance describes the mind-set of poor, white Americans. The memoir is a passionate, personal analysis of a culture in crises.
Vance and his half-sister were mostly raised by loving grandparents. His mother was an addict; he barely knew his father. His mother went from husband to husband, and even though some of these men were decent, they were never around long enough to help a growing boy get a sense of direction for his life.
Vance did poorly in school, had spotty attendance, and often made unwise choices. After barely graduating from high school, a cousin urged him to join the Marines, a choice that made all the difference in the life he subsequently lived. When he enlisted, he was out of shape, had a sour attitude, and couldn’t begin to imagine what he would do with the rest of his life. By working hard—and that not always by choice—he learned his own self-worth, and gained confidence both physically and mentally.
With his new-found confidence, and with the help of the G.I. Bill, Vance attended and graduated from Ohio State University in Columbus. At the University, he learned how other people lived, that he could contribute to society, and that he could be someone he never dreamed possible. He learned that successful people look at the big picture, not just present-day challenges.
He applied and was accepted at Yale Law School. At Yale he met yet a different class of people, and was introduced to other lifestyles and opportunities. His expanding self-worth influenced his future choices.
Hillbilly Elegy is a powerful book. As one who’s “been there,” Vance describes the problems with so many of the working class poor, how their lifestyle reflects bad choices, resulting in the next generation making the same self-defeating decisions. It’s easy to be critical of people like this, but the remedies are complex and often elusive. Hillbilly Elegy is a fascinating study of a profound problem in today’s American culture.
I search out books that give me a glimpse into cultures or lifestyles I would not otherwise encounter. This is one of them. I did not know about the migratory connection between north and south, that transported an entire Appalachain culture, with its ingrained mindset, northward to jobs, but not necessarily out of the chains that bound them. That the author could break out of them seems an anomaly rather than forging a path for others to follow him out. It was certainly an eye-opener. IN some ways, a similar book is Tara Westover’s “Educated.”
J. D. Vance gives hard-won personal insights into the fracture lines in the US. Growing up in Appalachia, he survived a severely dysfunctional childhood and went on to become Editor of the Yale Law Review. Wise politicians study this book to help understand the grass-roots anger in middle America.
I finally got around to reading Hillbilly Elegy a long time after hearing lots of hype about it. Now I understand why so many people were talking. In this book, like in Educated and The Glass Castle, we see how children who are trapped in difficult circumstances can rise above them to fulfill their potentials. As an educator, I appreciate and enjoy stories of this theme. In J.D. Vance’s book, however, we see that, although his knowledge, experience, and outlook changed after being in the Marines and graduating from Yale Law School, his heart remained grounded in the family values and traditions transmitted to him by his grandparents, who loved and believed in him. I applaud him for sharing this intensely personal story, and I hope his ambition and passion for success inspire others to work hard and then give back.
An exceptional, thought-provoking look at a forgotten population in America. JD Vance’s memoir is one of the best I’ve read in years. A must read especially during the current political climate.
Impressive insight into the minds of those who live in Appalachia – their struggles, their history, their world views. I found it very informative without being condescending. The author’s story of his life and how he managed to claw his way out of what would have seemed to be a dismal future was inspiring. Very well-written and a compelling read.
I laughed, I cried, I cheered for J.D. Vance. J.D states in his introduction that he’s ‘accomplished nothing great,’ I tend to disagree. First of all, he did something amazing in 257 pages that a lot of authors can’t do, he stole my heart. J.D says he isn’t special and in the big picture he isn’t, he is like millions of children who grew up poor and poorly. What is unique about J.D is that he didn’t just survive, he thrived, and he lived to tell us all about it. We all should listen to what J.D has to say. He writes with an unabashed honesty that is hard to find in this politically correct world. Whether you agree or disagree with his views, you will not be the same person you were after you read this book. Open your mind and your heart to Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, you will be glad you did.
A great story about a man who grew up in a rust belt (via Kentucky) environment, and ended up a Marine and graduate of Yale law school. It’s an amazing look at the working class struggles in America.
This book gives a poignant perspective on the issues facing working class families and the societal roadblocks to success. He also is forthright in putting the main determinants on individual choices rather than government policy.
I chose this book to fulfill the “problems facing society today” prompt in the 2018 POPSUGAR Reading Challenge. Being a “hillbilly” myself from Appalachia via West Virginia, I could really relate to what J.D had to say and it really resonated with me. But even aside from the cultural similarities of our backgrounds I think this book has a lot to say to anyone willing to pick it up and read it with an open mind. I think you will find it fairly well written with a level of sophistication despite some of the vernacular utilized, though to be true to his [hillbilly] roots (and mine) it is both warranted and needed. Despite how some may interpret the title, admittedly myself included, this is not a book of bigotry or political rhetoric to further divide our cultures and classes but geared towards enlightenment and empowerment to both inform and uplift so that our cultures and society as a whole may unify in tackling a very real issue facing our country today. I read this book in 2 days. I found it to be highly intriguing and definitely recommend.
Others have grown up in similar settings and come out at a completely different place. This book helped me to understand how people would choose to vote for someone like Trump.
This book is the story of a boy who grew up in MIddletown, Ohio to transplanted hillbillies from Appalachia. Because of the influence of his grandparents, he was able to break the cycle, leave Middletown and pursue a career in law. A good read for anyone who wants to study chronic poverty first-hand.