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.
more
As a story about a dysfunctional family, it is ok. Although, i must say that memoirs do not ordinarily come with references. It is not the sweeping depiction of Appalachian culture that it is purported to be. In that regard it is poorly done, misleading, and in many respects erroneous.
Best use it as a text about how to write sterotypical tripe.
Disappointing. Bloated–worked better as article.
So many told me they loved this book. I couldn’t finish even the third chapter. I didn’t care, I didn’t want to know.
And I enjoyed the authors’s view of the social structure of his world and the difference of the entitled world that he found in college and after.
Had heard the author speak on news shows and after the election was curious to try and understand why the election was determined by people like him. Felt I had a better feeling for the people who lived their lives with such a struggle and managed to find success.
I know this author – he went to school with my son. I am so proud of him!! This is a wonderful book that should be read by all!
The author is candid about his life experiences and does shed light on the plight of the poor Appalacian white. However many things he describes are prevalent in other disadvantaged groups, as well.
Provided insight into our drug problems.
I found this book to be self-serving, biased and political propaganda. As a resident of southwest Ohio, the setting where this book takes place, I find his conclusions misguided and off the mark.
made me think about people different from me. Worth the read
After reading “Evicted” by Matthew Desmond, this book was a big disappointment. It is missing empathy.
A glmpse into a world that I could only visit via a book. Very informative.
This story tells the condition of many of the American Citizens. We don’t have the solid family structure we once had nor the middle class manufacturing jobs. Without that, households have resorted to lifestyles of alcohol and drugs to compensate for their feelings of depression. This book shows how it all begins . It also shows how having one stable person in ones life can turn a person around. We all need to hear this story.
A well written and interesting book. It sheds light on a portion of our society that many of us know very little about. A job well done.
A poignant look at the hillbilly life in our country and the sad result of poverty, lack of education and the opioid crisis. Not very uplifting, but an important read.
I enjoyed reading the book but I think he could have ended it sooner. I think it was redundant towards the end.
Gave real insight along w deep empathy for the underprivileged.
It’s a memoir from a unique perspective. The writing wasn’t terribly original or polished, but the writer’s story is compelling.
Amazing!! Really great book.
Poorly written, full of incorrect generalizations about poor Appalachian people, not vivid when he writes about his own experience. Instead read Barbara Kingsolver’s Flight Behavior.