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 is an amazing book with such rich development of people in the author’s life. His emotions are raw and real. I loved this book.
This is a true story of the author who grew up in the Rust Belt between Kentucky and Ohio. He tells the story of a culture in crisis – white working class Americans. He has a biological father he didn’t know until he was older. A slew of men in and out of his life while his mother – who abused alcohol and drugs – barely could raise him. His was basically raised by his grandparents who he credits for saving him and turning him into the man he is today.
He is now a marine veteran who went to Yale Law School. He talks how it took him a long time to trust people and let his guard down due to his upbringing in such an unstable environment.
I really liked this book. I grew up in a VERY stable family, but in a very UNSTABLE town. A town full of families just like the authors (I grew up in Western Pennsylvania near the Appalachian mountains). I watched families struggle every day and watched the cycle repeat itself generation after generation. And when a kid broke the cycle, like the author did, it was amazing to see. The author talks extensively how the support and stability of his grandmother’s home saved him. That seems to be the bottom line. A kid needs stability and love to break a cycle. The author could have ended up like his mother – a drug and alcohol abuser with a very bleak future. But due to the grandparents, his broke away.
Great, great book. Highly recommend!
This book opened my eyes to what advantages and disadvantages you have in different parts of the USA. The author was so honest and gave lots of ideas of networking when job hunting. Loved his love to family.
I wish I could write a book like this about my family’s background.
An inside look at a unique American sub-culture.
Interesting to see life from a strange (i.e., different than one’s own) perspective. Somewhat inspirational in terms of someone overcoming difficult experiences.
A window into the lives of a segment of society that is usually maligned. Inspires empathy.
Very real.
I expected to loathe “Hillbilly Elegy.” J.D. Vance kicked up a storm with his bestselling memoir, which is pilloried for its conservative viewpoint and depiction of the white working class as blaming everyone but themselves for their problems. And yet I adored the book. Yale law school grad Vance credits his escape from Rust Belt poverty to his “lunatic hillbilly” grandmother, and I defy anyone to read his account without falling in love with Vance’s gun-toting, foul-mouthed, brave, loyal Mamaw. He makes a compelling case that the loving influence of even a single family member can revolutionize a child’s life.
It wasn’t fiction, rather a social study of a small group of people.
This book is an honest, blameless look at poverty and the fight to get out of it and the ultimate cost on individuals and society. This is not a political book or a blame piece. This man very openly and honestly talks about being poor; living in it, eating in it, and being educated in it. He talks about some of the behavior cycles that keep people poor and how it effects the children and families.
He also honestly and modestly talks about the sheer amount of luck, and staggering amount of hard work to get out of poverty.
This book lingers with the reader long after the last page.
Read long ago. Far enough back one side of my family came from KY. Found some traits he talked about being familiar to me. Found it inspirational how he wanted his life to be different and he made it happen.
I live in South Eastern Ohio and this book explains a lot about a sub culture here. It was very helpful.
The insight of the author was thoughtful and informative. Vance allows his readers to peek inside his family and a regional cultural group that has numerous vicious stereotypes. He’s protective of his grandmother because she was truly a champion in his life, yet open about mistakes his family members and sub culture repeat far too often. I respect his candor.
Very touching story
A most excellent book on poverty: it’s causes, failures, remedies and successes. Author definitely did his homework and triumphed over his early life in poor Appalachian states.
Wonderful to see JD transcend his roots and share the possibility of upward mobility with us middle class folk
Thoroughly readable book about J. D. Vance’s childhood in Appalachia and the poverty that followed him, his family and others from there to Ohio looking for a better life. Made me understand the culture of poverty . . .
I didn’t think I would like this book and had started it once and put it down. Once I got into it I was fascinated. This well-written, true-life story of life in yesterday’s and today’s Appalachia gave me an understanding of why Trump ironically appealed to groups of Americans who were tired of being ignored by Washington. Ironic, as Vance explains, because Trump will not, in fact, raise up the poor, as he promises. Vance has a way of presenting the story without leading the reader to feeling utterly depressed.
Very thought provoking a picture of a world far removed from the one I live in and the one I was raised in. A reminder to all of us that we can make a difference in a child’s life and in the world.