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Hillbilly Elegy
Author	J. D. Vance
Language	English
Subject	Rural sociology, poverty, family drama
Published	June 2016 (Harper Press)
Publisher	Harper
Pages	264
Awards	Audie Award for Nonfiction
ISBN	978-0-06-230054-6
OCLC	952097610
LC Class	HD8073.V37

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Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis is a 2016 memoir by J. D. Vance about the Appalachian values of his Kentucky family and their relation to the social problems of his hometown of Middletown, Ohio, where his mother's parents moved when they were young.

Summary[edit]

Vance describes his upbringing and family background while growing up in the city of Middletown, Ohio, the third largest city in the Cincinnati metropolitan area. He writes about a family history of poverty and low-paying, physical jobs that have since disappeared or worsened in their guarantees, and compares this life with his perspective after leaving it.

Though Vance was raised in Middletown, his mother and her family were from Breathitt County, Kentucky. Their Appalachian values include traits like loyalty and love of country, despite social issues including violence and verbal abuse. He recounts his grandparents' alcoholism and abuse, and his unstable mother's history of drug addictions and failed relationships. Vance's grandparents eventually reconciled and became his de facto guardians. He was pushed by his tough but loving grandmother, and eventually Vance was able to leave Middletown to attend Ohio State University and Yale Law School.^[1]

Alongside his personal history, Vance raises questions such as the responsibility of his family and people for their own misfortune. Vance blames hillbilly culture and its supposed encouragement of social rot. Comparatively, he feels that economic insecurity plays a much lesser role. To lend credence to his argument, Vance regularly relies on personal experience. As a grocery store checkout cashier, he watched welfare recipients talk on cell phones although the working Vance could not afford one. His resentment of those who seemed to profit from poor behavior while he struggled, especially combined with his values of personal responsibility and tough love, is presented as a microcosm of the reason for Appalachia's overall political swing from strong Democratic Party to strong Republican affiliations. Likewise, he recounts stories intended to showcase a lack of work ethic including the story of a man who quit after expressing dislike over his job's hours and posted to social media about the 'Obama economy', as well as a co-worker, with a pregnant girlfriend, who would skip work.^[1]

Publication[edit]

The book was popularized by an interview with the author published by The American Conservative in late July 2016. The volume of requests briefly disabled the website. Halfway through the next month, The New York Times wrote that the title had remained in the top ten Amazon bestsellers since the interview's publication.^[1]

Vance credits his Yale contract law professor Amy Chua as the 'authorial godmother' of the book.^[2]

Reception[edit]

The book reached the top of The New York Times Best Seller list in August 2016^[3] and January 2017.^[4] Many journalists criticized Vance for generalizing too much from his personal upbringing in suburban Ohio.^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]

American Conservative contributor and blogger Rod Dreher expressed admiration for Hillbilly Elegy, saying that Vance 'draws conclusions…that may be hard for some people to take. But Vance has earned the right to make those judgments. This was his life. He speaks with authority that has been extremely hard won.'^[9] The following month, Dreher posted about why liberals loved the book.^[10]New York Post columnist and editor of CommentaryJohn Podhoretz described the book as among the year's most provocative.^[11] The book was positively received by conservatives such as National Review columnist Mona Charen^[12] and National Review editor and Slate columnist Reihan Salam.^[13]

By contrast, Jared Yates Sexton of Salon criticized Vance for his 'damaging rhetoric' and for endorsing policies used to 'gut the poor.' He argues that Vance 'totally discounts the role racism played in the white working class's opposition to President Obama.'^[14] Sarah Jones of The New Republic mocked Vance as 'the false prophet of Blue America,' dismissing him as 'a flawed guide to this world' and the book as little more than 'a list of myths about welfare queens repackaged as a primer on the white working class.'^[6]The New York Times wrote that Vance's direct confrontation of a social taboo is admirable regardless of whether the reader agrees with his conclusions. The newspaper writes that Vance's subject is despair, and his argument is more generous in that it blames fatalism and learned helplessness rather than indolence.^[1] Bob Hutton of Jacobin wrote that Vance's argument relied on circular logic, ignored existing scholarship on Appalachian poverty, and was 'primarily a work of self-congratulation.'^[5]Sarah Smarsh with The Guardian noted that 'most downtrodden whites are not conservative male Protestants from Appalachia' and called into question Vance's generalizations about the white working class from his personal upbringing.^[7]

A 2017 Brookings Institution report noted that, “JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy became a national bestseller for its raw, emotional portrait of growing up in and eventually out of a poor rural community riddled by drug addiction and instability.' Vance's account anecdotally confirmed the report's conclusion that family stability is essential to upward mobility.^[15] The book provoked a response in the form of an anthology, Appalachian Reckoning: A Region Responds to Hillbilly Elegy, edited by Anthony Harkins and Meredith McCarroll. The essays in the volume criticize Vance for making broad generalizations and reproducing myths about poverty.^[8]

Film adaptation[edit]

A film adaptation was released in select theaters in the United States on November 11, 2020, then digitally on Netflix on November 24. It was directed by Ron Howard and stars Glenn Close, Amy Adams, Gabriel Basso^[16]^[17] and Haley Bennett. Although a few days of filming were planned for the book's setting of Middletown, Ohio,^[18] much of the filming in the summer of 2019 was in Atlanta, Clayton and Macon, Georgia, using the code name 'IVAN.'^[19]^[20]

References[edit]

^ ^a^b^c^dSenior, Jennifer (August 10, 2016). 'Review: In 'Hillbilly Elegy,' a Tough Love Analysis of the Poor Who Back Trump'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on October 11, 2016. Retrieved October 11, 2016.
^Heller, Karen (February 6, 2017). ''Hillbilly Elegy' made J.D. Vance the voice of the Rust Belt. But does he want that job?'. The Washington Post. Archived from the original on November 25, 2020. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
^Barro, Josh (August 22, 2016). 'The new memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy' highlights the core social-policy question of our time'. Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 13, 2017. Retrieved March 13, 2017.
^'Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers – January 22, 2017'. The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 27, 2017. Retrieved February 12, 2017.
^ ^a^b'Hillbilly Elitism'. jacobinmag.com. Archived from the original on May 7, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^ ^a^bJones, Sarah (November 17, 2016). 'J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America'. The New Republic. Archived from the original on March 17, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^ ^a^bSmarsh, Sarah (October 13, 2016). 'Dangerous idiots: how the liberal media elite failed working-class Americans'. The Guardian. ISSN0261-3077. Archived from the original on April 18, 2020. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
^ ^a^bGarner, Dwight (February 25, 2019). ''Hillbilly Elegy' Had Strong Opinions About Appalachians. Now, Appalachians Return the Favor'. The New York Times. ISSN0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 21, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
^Dreher, Rod (July 11, 2016). 'Hillbilly America: Do White Lives Matter?'. The American Conservative. Archived from the original on March 22, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^Dreher, Rod (August 5, 2016). 'Why Liberals Love 'Hillbilly Elegy''. The American Conservative. Archived from the original on October 12, 2016. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^Podhoretz, John (October 16, 2016). 'The Truly Forgotten Republican Voter'. Commentary. Archived from the original on February 25, 2017. Retrieved March 12, 2017.
^'Hillbilly Elegy: J.D. Vance's New Book Reveals Much about Trump & America'. National Review. July 28, 2016. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^'Reihan Salam on Twitter: 'Very excited for @JDVance1. HILLBILLY ELEGY is excellent, and it'll be published in late June:''. Twitter. April 30, 2016. Archived from the original on April 17, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^Jared Yates Sexton (March 11, 2017). 'Hillbilly sellout: The politics of J. D. Vance's 'Hillbilly Elegy' are already being used to gut the working poor'. Salon. Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 22, 2017.
^Eleanor Krause and Richard V. Reeves (2017) Rural Dreams: Upward Mobility in America's Countryside, pp.12–13. Brookings Institution. https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/es_20170905_ruralmobility.pdfArchived December 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine
^Williams, Trey (April 12, 2019). Close%5d%5d plays a strong matriarch, Mamaw, who saves the hero./ 'Ron Howard-Directed 'Hillbilly Elegy' Casts Gabriel Basso in Lead Role' Check |url= value (help). TheWrap. Archived from the original on May 13, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
^WKRC (April 16, 2019). ''Hillbilly Elegy' expected to be filmed locally; more cast members sign on'. Local 12/WKRC-TV. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
^Kiesewetter, John (June 3, 2019). 'Glenn Close, Amy Adams, Visit Middletown For 'Hillbilly Elegy' Meeting'. WVXU Cincinnati Public Radio. Archived from the original on June 7, 2019.
^Walljasper, Matt (June 27, 2019). 'What's filming in Atlanta now? Lovecraft Country, The Conjuring 3, Waldo, Hillbilly Elegy, and more'. Atlanta Magazine. Archived from the original on June 28, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
^Chandler, Tom (July 3, 2019). 'Netflix to begin filming movie 'Ivan' in Macon'. The Georgia Sun. Archived from the original on July 5, 2019. Retrieved July 5, 2019.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from 'https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Hillbilly_Elegy&oldid=1019211793'

January 17, 2019

Anyone who considers himself a friend of God must have at least great pause when it comes to modern Democrats. Seldom has a major American political party so distanced itself from the notion that, as President John Adams pointed out, 'righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people.'

This is what happens when 'live your truth' is the prevailing moral position. No one should be surprised that politicians who support the 'right' to kill children in the womb, who championed the legal redefinition of marriage, and who now pretend we can no longer rely on science, or common sense, or even simply our eyes to tell us who is a male and who is a female, would display open animus against people whose faith tells them such positions are immoral, and who live according to the notion that there is such a thing as absolute truth.

If something is immoral, then perhaps it should be illegal. If there is such a thing as absolute truth, then perhaps our laws should reflect that truth. Democrats just can't take the chance that such thinking will prevail. Thus, unless Christians can manage to get themselves elected, our role in our government is increasingly imperiled.

This is especially true of Christians who wish to serve in the Judiciary. Because liberals have long seen the courts as a 'super-Legislature' that they can use to enact their perverse agenda, Brett Kavanaugh will be far from the last Christian conservative judge who will draw the ire of Democrats who wish to derail such nominations.

Before Justice Kavanaugh, there were Robert Bork, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett and her loud 'dogma.' Now we have 'Sir' Brian C. Buescher of the Knights of Columbus. Democrat senators Kamala Harris and Mazie Hirono recently implied that Judge Buescher's membership in the two million-strong, 136-year-old Catholic service organization makes him unfit for the federal courts.

What really troubled the Senate Democrats is the position of the Knights of Columbus on abortion and marriage. Never mind that such positions are perfectly in line with centuries-old teachings of the Catholic Church and that disqualification on such grounds would bar from public service every Catholic who actually adheres to the Church's teachings. As Matthew Continetti rightly notes:

My concern is the anti-Catholic sentiment manifest in the Democratic Party. Last March, Feinstein demanded to know if Michael Scudder, now confirmed to the Seventh Circuit, worked with his parish 'to establish a residential crisis pregnancy center.' Last May, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island asked Peter J. Phipps, now confirmed as a district court judge, about the Knights. Last October, Feinstein, Harris, and three other Democrats wanted to know about the relationship between Fourth Circuit nominee Allison Jones Rushing and the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian nonprofit that supports religious liberty. Last November, Feinstein asked Third Circuit nominee Paul Matey, 'If confirmed, will you recuse yourself from all cases in which the Knights of Columbus have taken a position?

Right-minded Catholics should thank God that Trump was elected. As Rod Dreher reported, a 'new Wikileaks dump from Clinton campaign chief John Podesta's emails reveals that Podesta created a couple of activist groups for the sake of undermining the Catholic bishops and the Church's authority.' As Thomas Peters tweeted, 'the head of Clinton's campaign has been organizing to fracture a major religion.' Or, as Dreher rightly noted:

[A]t the senior level of the Democratic Party's brain trust, a Clinton political operative – a Catholic! – created front groups specifically to undermine the authority of the Catholic bishops, and to separate the bishops from the people, as well as to secretly undermine Catholic teaching to make it more friendly to the Democratic Party's agenda. Podesta ought to be excommunicated.

Continetti notes that Democrats have not limited their religious bigotry to Catholics:

Baptists and Episcopalians are also under scrutiny. In June 2017, Bernie Sanders clashed with Russell Vought, now acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, over a blog post Vought had written regarding Islam that several Muslim groups considered Islamophobic. 'I'm a Christian, and I believe in a Christian set of principles based on my faith,' Vought said. By the end of the exchange, Sanders said, 'I would simply say, Mr. Chairman, that this nominee is really not someone who is what this country is supposed to be about.'

Democrats also opposed Mike Pompeo's nomination as secretary of state because of how his Christian faith informs and impacts his politics. Pompeo – a Presbyterian – has served as a deacon, is open about his faith, and has also indicated that he actually believes what the Bible says about life, sex, and marriage. In November 2017, Sheldon Whitehouse critically questioned federal district court nominee Trevor McFadden – an Anglican – over his church's traditional teachings on marriage and the family.

Along with targeting Christians who believe what the Bible reveals on the significant moral issues of our time, modern Democrats have also targeted Jews and the nation of Israel.

As John Perazzo recently noted, the black left is littered with racists and anti-Semites. These Jew-haters are not mere race pimps and publicity prostitutesà la Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson, but are also elected Democrats. As Warren Henry revealed last year, 'Democrats are fielding even more anti-Semitic candidates for Congress.' They're not just running, but winning.

As Henry points out, Michigan representative Rashida Tlaib – who profanely promised to impeach President Trump – 'is representative of the Democratic Party's gradual march beyond the embrace of candidates and officials who criticize Israeli policy or its current government to a much uglier place in politics.' Like a growing number of Democrats in Congress, Tlaib supports a 'one-state solution' to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, along with the 'boycott, divestment, sanctions' (BDS) movement.

Henry also notes:

The founders and leaders of the BDS movement support a 'one-state solution' that destroys Israel as Jewish state. The movement is the intellectual descendant of the 1945 Arab boycott, which did not distinguish between Jews and Israel. It is based on the premise that Israel is a racist apartheid state requiring the sort of action once taken against South Africa.

Marc Greendorfer recently revealed:

While BDS has risen in the United States, so has anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitic incidents have spiked from a low point of 751 incidents in 2013 to nearly 2,000 in 2017. It is no coincidence that the spread of a movement that demonizes Jews has had the same effect in the U.S. that similar campaigns had in the last 2,000 years.

The real agenda of BDS is the destruction of Israel. Robert P. George of Princeton warns that leading Democrats will soon altogether turn on Israel. The modern left hates Israel because the existence of a nation called Israel is among the greatest evidence that the God of the Bible is real. They hate God, so they hate Israel.

This is also why the left hates Christianity. Authentic Christianity points people to the truth. As a California church recently declared, 'Bruce Jenner is still a man. Homosexuality is still a sin. The culture may change, the Bible does not.'

The left's deceit seems to know no bounds, thus we are left debating what was once almost universally accepted. This is what results when a major political party is so often opposed to the truth.

Trevor Grant Thomas
At the Intersection of Politics, Science, Faith, and Reason.
www.trevorgrantthomas.com
Trevor is the author of the The Miracle and Magnificence of America
tthomas@trevorgrantthomas.com

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Continetti notes that Democrats have not limited their religious bigotry to Catholics:

Along with targeting Christians who believe what the Bible reveals on the significant moral issues of our time, modern Democrats have also targeted Jews and the nation of Israel.

Henry also notes:

Marc Greendorfer recently revealed:

Rod Dreher Column

The left's deceit seems to know no bounds, thus we are left debating what was once almost universally accepted. This is what results when a major political party is so often opposed to the truth.