Hillbilly Elegy

A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

By: J. D. Vance

Narrated by: J. D. Vance

Hillbilly Elegy recounts J.D. Vance's powerful origin story...

From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate now serving as a U.S. Senator from Ohio and the Republican Vice Presidential candidate for the 2024 election, an incisive account of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town that offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America's white working class.

THE #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

""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 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, 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.

BRAVO, J.D. Vance

As a veteran of the social work profession and a native Ohioan, I've not read anything even remotely closer to the reality of the white working poor in America as what Vance manages to honestly and brutally conveys in Hillbilly Elegy. Respectfully, often reverently the intention is shamelessly pick through his own family's ruins in the context of his own new normal. I found myself shouting "YES, exactly that, YES!" more times that I could count throughout his narrative. The moments that I physically responded by outbursts of hysterical laughter, the "church head nod", and clapping were usually in response to the so-real-I-could -almost-smell-her-in-the-room doctrine of Mamaw. Here's your front row seat in class, America, pun very much intended. Take your time and let this one marinate for the next four years while the Trump administration gets good and comfortable. It's going to take a while to right this ship.

the first Audible book I will listen to over again

Very gripping story of a poor child in a disadvantaged and dysfunctional home. His upward mobility against all odds is a miracle. The statistics are jaw dropping in all of his research showing the listener the rise and fall of the American working class . A great book.

Memoir with a larger view

This memoir goes beyond a personal or family history; it illuminates social and political issues affecting millions of Americans (ultimately all Americans).

The story J.D. Vance tells is a timely one. It adds an important perspective to the discussion of our society in today's world.

The book is well written and easy to read. (And pretty short.)

As for the narration, it is nice to hear the author read his own story. However, he is not a professional narrator and while J.D.'s voice is fine, it did not enhance the story. I was a bit disappointed that when he quoted someone--himself or others--from his past, J.D. didn't alter his voice to speak with the dialect/accent he grew up with (he mentions this, but never lets us hear what that sounded like).

Wonderful life story close to home

This is a wonderful life story close to home not in its poverty or abuse but in its people. I laughed and cried with Papaw and Mamaw and empathized with J. D.'s account. This is a very entertaining and compelling memoir, one of the best I have read. It deserves all of its accolades.

Painfully familiar

i'm from Kentucky and kept having epiphanies, then looking around to share them with someone.

great story of the 21st century hillbilly's state

this offers great insight into the working class white community and what lies beneath the culture in today's society.

Fantastic.

Thank you JD. Your story was phenomenal. I grew up in a totally different place in the exact same way. Your introspective view of yourself has helped me adapt the same sort of awareness of my own flaws and I've grown as a man for it. If you ever run for office I'd be honored to serve on your team. God bless you sir.

A realistic look at a slice of American culture

Recommending this book to psychologists and medical professionals. Also an insightful read for those who grew up in similar circumstance.

Enlightening

I was hesitant getting this book but I'm very glad I did. I found the view into their live was an example of how tough some people have in this country. It is heart breaking what many people go through each day. In this day and age it shouldn't be that someone has to worry about being or going hungry. I know a lot of people like to blame others for their failures but I really like how he mentioned that taking accountability for our action is one place we need to start to fix the issue. Great book and highly recommend it to you.

Eloquently Written and Read

This is not an anthropological review of "Hillybilly" culture, this is a coming of age story from a wickedly-bright and insightful young man whose open eyes and heart enabled him to thrive in the rest of the world while not turning his back on his family, his childhood, or his people.

Personally, this was a gift because it gave me compassionate insight into the ways in which people who are not like me think, live, and survive.