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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Thought provoking biography of a white lower middle class kid and the issues and problems he fought to overcome. The author discusses society as a whole. Very good read.
I loved this book – learned so much about the hillbilly culture and the problems associated with it. I think I understand much more about the current political climate and the reactions of the people who are dealing with economic changes in their world. I wish I knew how our country can possibly help these people to adapt and change to become a part of the society which is rapidly evolving around them.
I love this book! It is a fascinating look at the Appalachian area. I’ve always been interested in the Appalachian area and it’s culture. The writing was excellent & I did not want to put this book down. I highly recommend it.
I was hoping for more. I am older than the author, but we have similar backgrounds. I grew up in a coal mining town in southwestern Pennsylvania. As I started reading this book I realized there were some ways our families resembled one another, but the more I read, the less I saw we had in common. I am confused by how his family seemed to take their environment with them when they moved. It was only by moving outside a similar environment where people held the same values as the place they were born, that the author did not revert to his family’s values and attitudes. My parents told their daughters that the only way out of our town was a college education. We believed them and ended up with two PhDs and a JD. I never “go back home” without wanting to leave soon after I get there because nothing ever seems to change. I wish the book had attempted to give a reason why so many in his family liked going back more than my family
Emotional, insightful, compelling. Really adds to a deeper understanding of the world-view of Appalachians.
Really good book about how the plight of the forgotten people of the US has changed
Author did a good job helping me get to know him growing up. I now understand better the poor whites from Appalachia. He explains how he was able to escape the culture only because he had a lot of loving support psychologically from a tough pair of grandparents who were just as poor as anyone. The marines gave him the discipline & confidence he needed to realize his dreams. He concludes that these people have no one to blame but themselves for their predicament, though he does admit his grandparent’s love & belief in him was a necessary advantage.
An important book!
Not much good to say about it. Well, maybe he has a good editor. He definately likes to toot his own horn. For someone who did not grow up in Appalachia, he has a lot of high-falluting ideas about what we feel and want. His voice is from Middletown, Ohio, not Kentucky. Do not let it fool you, He is no more of a hillbilly than Putin.
I only give it a 1 because someone printed it on paper.
I think he is probably going to run for public office sooner rather than later. Just watch and listen. Hopefully the people of Middletown are smarter than that.
Well written insight into the Hillbilly culture and heritage
The author’s resilience through adversity is inspirational. His clear-eyed ability to understand and compensate for people’s weaknesses, without resorting to bitterness, is commendable. He worked hard for his professional success, but he may not have a realistic understanding of the role that a few key “lucky breaks” also played. Without them, many others cannot fully replicate similar achievements. But he makes many valid points about the importance of individual drive and agency in making the most of life’s opportunities.
Great story overcoming great challenges. Inspirational, well worth reading.
A very insightful book about much of blue collar America. Provided understanding about an alien population for my perception.
If you live in the South, you know these people.
Clear, honest descriptions of people that illuminate a group of people who rarely are in the spotlight.
Thank you, J D Vance, for this book. Your words and story gave me a picture of life in this area and culture. You have given me a lot to think about, most especially some of the similarities to life in southern Louisiana and Mississippi.
Having grown up in southwest Ohio, as well as having attended Ohio State, I found this book extremely interesting. Our legislators need to read this book and listen to this guy!
The author tells the story of his family, a wonderful cast of characters. Nothing warm and fuzzy about these people. They are fierce, clannish, violent, intelligent and passionately loyal to one another. And they’re not unique. I know people like them. They are a class that’s never had a voice until now, and Mr. Vance tells their story eloquently.
Mr. Vance has his finger firmly on the pulse of the clan/tribe he’s so simultaneously drawn to and repelled by. I didn’t have the extreme experiences he was exposed to, but I am very familiar with these people whom I call my family. I also had a Mam-Maw and a Pap-Paw, with Pap-Paw dying early leaving his wife to provide for herself. My own mother died of breast cancer when I was 13, so my Mam-Maw stepped in and became the one and only reason my sister and I survived a volatile home life with a grief stricken alcoholIc father. We finished school, got degrees, and have always been productive members of our community. The problems Mr. Vance addresses are too numerous and deeply ingrained to easily overcome anytime soon. The very best traits of loyalty and honor in my people are oddly enough going to be the hardest obstacles to address and modify. But if done so generations from now, I firmly believe they will be the solid core of our society.
Really liked little about book, did not grasp everyone elses love of this material.