Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
by J.D. Vance
View on GoodreadsDeindustrialization hit Rust Belt towns hard, and Vance grants what that did. That said, his case is that a culture of cynicism and blaming others did as much damage, and that you get out through personal responsibility more than government help. He tells it through his own family.
Core ideas
- Mamaw and Papaw: His grandparents moved from Jackson, Kentucky, to Middletown for work, reached the middle class, and largely raised him while his mother struggled with addiction.
- Learned helplessness: He sees it in communities hit by Rust Belt decline, drawing on sociology and psychology as well as family history.
- Luck and people: After the Marines and Iraq came Ohio State and Yale Law, and he credits luck, mentors and above all his grandmother.
Published2016
Pages264
ISBN9780062300546
ReadJul 2024
