J. D. Vance, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

This book is getting a lot of attention these days. Though it was not written with the presidential election in mind, J. D. Vance reminds us of that forgotten population out there that rose up to elect a crass-talking, offensive, scary candidate who promised change for them. Vance is a proud Hillbilly from the Appalachian byways of our country, people from families and communities and regions devastated by dramatic, bewildering change. These are the ones left behind. These are the “deplorables,” the “unredeemables,” the flyovers, folks on the crude margins that were so despised by those of us who are the elites. While Vance is acutely aware of the brokenness of hillbilly culture—the broken families and dysfunctional homes, the drugs, the woefully inadequate schools, the broken dreams of opportunity—he is proud of their inner strength, their sense of loyalty, their desire to work hard, the pain they know how to endure, the regrouping somehow after losing everything. Vance broke loose from his own destructive scene through the Marines, college at Ohio State, and law school at Yale. He had grandparents and a few teachers who encouraged him just enough to see a better way. He is a lucky one, he knows, but asks with urgency and compassion what might be done for the people left behind, left to endure one broken corner of America. Might there be hope for these people once again? This is an important read for anyone who wants to understand America today and perhaps as well the dynamics of this tumultuous election.