Hillbilly Elegy#Renewed attention

Vance describes his upbringing and family background while growing up in Middletown, Ohio, where his mother and her family had moved after World War II from Breathitt County, Kentucky.

Vance states that their Appalachian culture valued traits such as loyalty and love of country despite family violence and verbal abuse. Vance recounts his grandparents' alcoholism as well as his mother's history of drug addictions and failed relationships. Vance's grandparents reconciled and became his guardians. His strict but loving grandmother pushed Vance, who went on to complete undergraduate studies at Ohio State University and earned a Juris Doctor degree from Yale Law School.

Vance raises questions about the responsibility of his family and local people for their misfortunes. Vance suggests that hillbilly culture fosters social disintegration and economic insecurity in Appalachia. He cites a personal experience where, while working as a grocery store cashier, he saw welfare recipients with cell phones when he could not afford one.

Vance's antipathy toward those who seemed to profit from poor behavior while he struggled is presented as a rationale for Appalachia's political swing from voting Democratic to a strong Republican affiliation. Vance tells stories highlighting the lack of work ethic of the local people, including the story of a man who quit his job after expressing dislike over his work hours, and a co-worker with a pregnant girlfriend who skipped work unexcused.

In July 2016, Hillbilly Elegy was popularized by an interview with Vance in The American Conservative.{{Cite web |last=Dreher |first=Rod |date=2016-07-22 |title=Trump: Tribune Of Poor White People |url=https://www.theamericanconservative.com/trump-us-politics-poor-whites/ |access-date=2024-07-16 |website=The American Conservative |language=en-US}} The volume of requests briefly disabled the website. Halfway through August, The New York Times wrote that the title had remained in the top ten Amazon bestsellers since the interview's publication.

Vance has credited his Yale contract law professor Amy Chua as the "authorial godmother" of the book, as she persuaded him to write the memoir.{{cite news |last=Heller |first=Karen |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hillbilly-elegy-made-jd-vance-the-voice-of-the-rust-belt-but-does-he-want-that-job/2017/02/06/fa6cd63c-e882-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |title='Hillbilly Elegy' made J.D. Vance the voice of the Rust Belt. But does he want that job? |date=February 6, 2017 |access-date=March 13, 2017 |archive-date=November 25, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201125133721/https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/hillbilly-elegy-made-jd-vance-the-voice-of-the-rust-belt-but-does-he-want-that-job/2017/02/06/fa6cd63c-e882-11e6-80c2-30e57e57e05d_story.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Interview with Amy Chua |url=https://www.maxraskin.com/interviews/amy-chua |access-date=2024-12-09 |website=Interviews with Max Raskin |language=en-US}}

The book reached the top of The New York Times best seller list in August 2016{{cite web|url= http://www.businessinsider.com/hillbilly-elegy-trump-review-2016-8|title=The new memoir 'Hillbilly Elegy' highlights the core social-policy question of our time|last=Barro|first=Josh|author-link=Josh Barro|work=Business Insider|date= August 22, 2016|access-date=March 13, 2017|archive-date=February 13, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170213100247/http://www.businessinsider.com/hillbilly-elegy-trump-review-2016-8|url-status=live}} and January 2017.{{cite news|url= https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2017/01/22/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/|title=Combined Print & E-Book Nonfiction Books – Best Sellers – January 22, 2017|newspaper= The New York Times|access-date= February 12, 2017|archive-date=January 27, 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20170127203729/http://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/2017/01/22/combined-print-and-e-book-nonfiction/ |url-status=live}}

File:Small Talks DC- Securing the American Dream for Young Children (37629711710) (a).jpg

In a positive review in The New York Times, Jennifer Senior wrote that Vance's confrontation of a social taboo was admirable, regardless of whether the reader agreed with his conclusions. She described the book as "a compassionate, discerning sociological analysis of the white underclass that has helped drive the politics of rebellion, particularly the ascent of Donald J. Trump." Senior wrote that Vance's subject is despair, and his argument was more generous in that it blames fatalism and learned helplessness rather than indolence.

A 2017 Brookings Institution report noted that "J. D. 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.{{cite web |last1=Krause |first1=Eleanor |last2=Reeves |first2=Richard V. |date=September 2017 |title=Rural Dreams: Upward Mobility in America's Countryside |url=https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/es_20170905_ruralmobility.pdf |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201206131525/https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/es_20170905_ruralmobility.pdf |archive-date=December 6, 2020 |publisher=Brookings Institution |pages=12–13}}

In an interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung in July 2023, German chancellor Olaf Scholz called the book "a very touching personal story of how a young man with poor starting conditions makes his way." Scholz said the book had moved him to tears, but that he found the positions Vance later took to be "tragic."{{Cite web |date=2024-07-16 |title=Germany's Scholz found book written by Trump's VP pick 'touching' |url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/germanys-scholz-found-book-written-133934789.html |access-date=2024-07-22 |website=Yahoo News |language=en-US}}

The book was positively received by conservatives such as National Review columnist Mona Charen{{cite web |date=July 28, 2016 |title=Hillbilly Elegy: J.D. Vance's New Book Reveals Much about Trump & America |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438426/hillbilly-elegy-jd-vances-new-book-reveals-much-about-trump-america |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318000626/http://www.nationalreview.com/article/438426/hillbilly-elegy-jd-vances-new-book-reveals-much-about-trump-america |archive-date=March 18, 2017 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |work=National Review}} and National Review editor and Slate columnist Reihan Salam.{{cite tweet |number=726544843871281152 |user=Reihan |title=Very excited for @JDVance1. HILLBILLY ELEGY is excellent, and it'll be published in late June |first=Reihan |last=Salan |date=April 30, 2016 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417065204/https://twitter.com/reihan/status/726544843871281152 |archive-date=April 17, 2017 |url-status=live |url=https://twitter.com/reihan/status/726544843871281152 |website=Twitter}} 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. Vance has earned the right to make those judgments. This was his life. He speaks with authority that has been extremely hard won."{{cite web |last=Dreher |first=Rod |authorlink=Rod Dreher |url= http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/in-hillbilly-america-white-lives-matter/ |title=Hillbilly America: Do White Lives Matter? |work= The American Conservative |date= July 11, 2016 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |archive-date=March 22, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170322033316/http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/in-hillbilly-america-white-lives-matter/ |url-status=live }} The following month, Dreher posted about his theories about why liberals loved the book.{{cite web |last=Dreher |first=Rod |authorlink=Rod Dreher |url= http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/why-liberals-love-hillbilly-elegy/ |title=Why Liberals Love 'Hillbilly Elegy' |work=The American Conservative |date=August 5, 2016 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |archive-date=October 12, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161012083730/http://www.theamericanconservative.com/dreher/why-liberals-love-hillbilly-elegy/ |url-status=live }} New York Post columnist and editor of Commentary John Podhoretz described the book as among the year's most provocative.{{Cite journal |url=https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/truly-forgotten-republican-voter/|title=The Truly Forgotten Republican Voter|last= Podhoretz|first=John|date=October 16, 2016|journal=Commentary|access-date=March 12, 2017|author-link=John Podhoretz|archive-date=February 25, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170225114330/https://www.commentarymagazine.com/articles/truly-forgotten-republican-voter/|url-status=live}}

However, other journalists criticized Vance for generalizing too much from his personal upbringing in suburban Ohio. 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."{{cite web |author=Jared Yates Sexton |url=http://www.salon.com/2017/03/11/hillbilly-sellout-the-politics-of-j-d-vances-hillbilly-elegy-are-already-being-used-to-gut-the-working-poor/ |title=Hillbilly sellout: The politics of J. D. Vance's 'Hillbilly Elegy' are already being used to gut the working poor |website=Salon |date=March 11, 2017 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |archive-date=March 18, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170318002523/http://www.salon.com/2017/03/11/hillbilly-sellout-the-politics-of-j-d-vances-hillbilly-elegy-are-already-being-used-to-gut-the-working-poor/ |url-status=live }} 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."{{cite magazine |last=Jones |first=Sarah |url=https://newrepublic.com/article/138717/jd-vance-false-prophet-blue-america |title=J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America |magazine=The New Republic |date=November 17, 2016 |access-date=March 22, 2017 |archive-date=March 17, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170317235304/https://newrepublic.com/article/138717/jd-vance-false-prophet-blue-america |url-status=live }}

Historian Bob Hutton wrote in Jacobin that Vance's argument relied on circular logic and eugenics, ignored existing scholarship on Appalachian poverty, and was "primarily a work of self-congratulation."{{Cite web|url=https://jacobinmag.com/2016/10/hillbilly-elegy-review-jd-vance-national-review-white-working-class-appalachia/|title=Hillbilly Elitism|website=Jacobin|language=en-US|access-date=April 2, 2020|archive-date=May 7, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200507141226/https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/10/hillbilly-elegy-review-jd-vance-national-review-white-working-class-appalachia/|url-status=live}} 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.{{Cite news|last=Smarsh|first=Sarah|author-link=Sarah Smarsh|url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/13/liberal-media-bias-working-class-americans|title=Dangerous idiots: how the liberal media elite failed working-class Americans|date=October 13, 2016|work=The Guardian|access-date=April 19, 2020|language=en-GB|issn=0261-3077|archive-date=April 18, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418230430/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/oct/13/liberal-media-bias-working-class-americans|url-status=live}}

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.{{Cite news|last=Garner|first=Dwight|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/books/review-appalachian-reckoning-region-responds-hillbilly-elegy.html|title='Hillbilly Elegy' Had Strong Opinions About Appalachians. Now, Appalachians Return the Favor.|date=February 25, 2019|work=The New York Times|access-date=April 2, 2020|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|archive-date=February 21, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200221060608/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/25/books/review-appalachian-reckoning-region-responds-hillbilly-elegy.html|url-status=live}}

The book was discussed in an episode of the podcast If Books Could Kill.[https://slate.com/podcasts/slate-money/2024/07/podcaster-peter-shamshiri-if-books-could-kill-junk-nonfiction-jd-vance-nonfiction-self-help Money Talks: The Dangers of "Airport Books" - Slate Magazine]

A key reason for Hillbilly Elegy's widespread popularity following its publication in 2016 was its role in explaining Donald Trump's rise to the top of the Republican Party.{{Cite web |last=McClurg |first=Jocelyn |title=Best-selling 'Hillbilly Elegy' helps explain Trump's appeal |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2016/08/17/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-donald-trump-usa-today-best-selling-books-book-buzz/88862854/ |date=August 17, 2016 |access-date=April 20, 2022 |website=USA Today |language=en-US}}

In particular, it purportedly explains why white, working-class voters became attracted to Trump as a political leader.{{Cite magazine |date=September 12, 2016 |title=The Lives of Poor White People |url=http://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/the-lives-of-poor-white-people |access-date=April 20, 2022 |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US}} Vance himself offered commentary on how his book provides perspective on why a voter from the "hillbilly" demographic would support Trump.{{Cite web |date=February 8, 2017 |title=J.D. Vance on 'Hillbilly Elegy' and Translating for Trump Supporters |url=https://www.vogue.com/article/hillbilly-elegy-author-jd-vance-on-trump |access-date=April 20, 2022 |website=Vogue |language=en-US}}

Although he does not mention Trump in the book, Vance openly criticized the then presidential candidate while discussing his memoir in a 2016 interview following the book's release.{{Cite news |title='Hillbilly Elegy' Recalls A Childhood Where Poverty Was 'The Family Tradition' |language=en |work=NPR |url= https://www.npr.org/2016/08/17/490328484/hillbilly-elegy-recalls-a-childhood-where-poverty-was-the-family-tradition |date=August 17, 2016 |access-date=April 20, 2022}} Vance walked these comments back when he joined the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Ohio, and later openly endorsed Trump.{{Cite news |last= Gabriel |first=Trip |date=August 8, 2021 |title=J.D. Vance Converted to Trumpism. Will Ohio Republicans Buy It? |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2021/08/08/us/politics/jd-vance-trump-ohio.html |access-date=April 20, 2022 |issn= 0362-4331}}{{Cite news |first= Simon |last=van Zuylen-Wood |title=The radicalization of J.D. Vance |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/magazine/2022/01/04/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-radicalization/ |date=January 4, 2022 |access-date= April 20, 2022 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} In July 2024, Vance was picked by Trump to be his running mate on the Republican ticket for the 2024 U.S. presidential election.{{Cite web |last1=Steinhauser |first1=Paul |last2=Gillespie |first2=Brandon |date=July 15, 2024 |title=Trump announces Ohio Sen JD Vance as his 2024 running mate |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-announces-ohio-senator-j-d-vance-his-2024-running-mate |access-date=July 15, 2024 |website=Fox News}}

After Vance was announced as Trump's running mate in 2024, sales of the book and viewership for the film on Netflix increased dramatically.{{cite news |access-date=July 18, 2024 |date=July 17, 2024 |first1=Kimberley |last1=Aguirre |title=J.D. Vance's 'Hillbilly Elegy' streams skyrocket by 1,180%; book tops Amazon bestsellers list, sees spike in library borrows |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2024-07-17/hillbilly-elegy-jd-vance-netflix-movie-streams-book-sales |newspaper=LA Times}}

On July 15, 2024, an Internet hoax spread from social network X falsely claiming that Hillbilly Elegy described Vance having sexual intercourse with a couch. Internet memes were generated in response, and the viral hoax's spread was amplified after the Associated Press published and promptly deleted a fact-check of it.Multiple sources:

• {{cite news |last=Coen |first=Susie |date=July 25, 2024 |title=News agency pulls article claiming to fact-check JD Vance 'having sex with couch' |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/07/25/ap-confusion-jd-vance-sex-couch-claim |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726094648/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/us/politics/2024/07/25/ap-confusion-jd-vance-sex-couch-claim/ |archive-date=July 26, 2024 |access-date=July 27, 2024 |work=The Telegraph |language=en |ref=none}}
• {{cite news |last=Regimbal |first=Alec |date=July 25, 2024 |title=Associated Press pulls story fact-checking whether JD Vance had sex with a couch |url=https://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/ap-pulls-story-over-claim-vance-had-sex-with-couch-19597264.php |access-date=July 27, 2024 |work=SFGate |ref=none}}
• {{cite news |last=Schuster |first=Blake |date=25 July 2024 |title=JD Vance couch memes and the Associated Press fact check, explained |url=https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/07/jd-vance-couch-memes-associated-press |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240726094657/https://ftw.usatoday.com/2024/07/jd-vance-couch-memes-associated-press |archive-date=July 26, 2024 |access-date=July 27, 2024 |work=USA Today |ref=none}}
• {{cite web |last1=Sato |first1=Mia |date=25 July 2024 |title=The Associated Press Removes a Fact-Check Claiming JD Vance Has Not Had Sex With a Couch |url=https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/25/24206088/jd-vance-fact-check-sex-couch-rumor-associated-press-retraction |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240818193056/https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/25/24206088/jd-vance-fact-check-sex-couch-rumor-associated-press-retraction |archive-date=August 18, 2024 |access-date=July 28, 2024 |website=The Verge |language=en |ref=none}}
• {{cite web |last=Moye |first=David |date=July 30, 2024 |title=Person Behind JD Vance Couch Sex Meme Comes Clean |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-couch-sex-meme-creator_n_66a94103e4b0a3cd43f77791 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240818192912/https://www.huffpost.com/entry/jd-vance-couch-sex-meme-creator_n_66a94103e4b0a3cd43f77791 |archive-date=August 18, 2024 |access-date=August 3, 2024 |work=HuffPost |ref=none}}
• {{cite web |last=Joffe-Block |first=Jude |date=August 1, 2024 |title=What the JD Vance couch jokes say about social media this election season |url=https://www.npr.org/2024/07/31/nx-s1-5055854/vance-harris-social-media-rumors-jokes |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240805122746/https://www.npr.org/2024/07/31/nx-s1-5055854/vance-harris-social-media-rumors-jokes |archive-date=August 5, 2024 |access-date=August 5, 2024 |publisher=NPR |ref=none}}
• {{cite news |last=Oremus |first=Will |date=July 26, 2024 |title=False rumors about Vance, Musk's X show misinfo cuts both ways |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/07/26/jd-vance-couch-twitter-whitelist-fake |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240803105948/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2024/07/26/jd-vance-couch-twitter-whitelist-fake/ |archive-date=August 3, 2024 |access-date=August 5, 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |ref=none}}
• {{cite web |last=Greve |first=Joan |date=August 4, 2024 |title=Sofa so bad for JD Vance as Trump's VP pick faces swirling speculation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/04/jd-vance-critics-trump-vp |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240818192915/https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/article/2024/aug/04/jd-vance-critics-trump-vp |archive-date=August 18, 2024 |access-date=August 5, 2024 |work=The Guardian |ref=none}}

In 2017, Vance signed an $8 million deal to write a sequel to Hillbilly Elegy.{{cite web |last1=Siegel |first1=Tatiana |title=JD Vance Quietly Scored an $8 Million Deal for 'Hillbilly Elegy' Follow-Up as Hollywood Straddles Both Sides of Political Divide (EXCLUSIVE) |url=https://variety.com/2024/politics/news/jd-vance-hillbilly-elegy-wme-cory-emhoff-hollywood-ties-1236111119/ |website=Variety |date=20 August 2024 |access-date=22 August 2024}}

• Political positions of JD Vance
• Unhumans
• Dawn's Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/books/review-in-hillbilly-elegy-a-compassionate-analysis-of-the-poor-who-love-trump.html |access-date=October 11, 2016 |title=Review: In 'Hillbilly Elegy,' a Tough Love Analysis of the Poor Who Back Trump |last1=Senior |first1=Jennifer |date=August 10, 2016 |newspaper=The New York Times |archive-date=October 11, 2016 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011053806/http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/11/books/review-in-hillbilly-elegy-a-compassionate-analysis-of-the-poor-who-love-trump.html }}}}

• {{official website|https://www.harpercollins.com/9780062300546/hillbilly-elegy}}
• [https://www.c-span.org/video/?415207-1/qa-jd-vance C-SPAN Q&A interview with Vance on Hillbilly Elegy, October 23, 2016]

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