The subtitle is accurate enough: “A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” although the author J.D. Vance is, in fact, the focal point of view throughout, from his childhood to his success as an adult. Few young people made it out of the hills to enjoy stable and successful lives, but J.D. was one of them, earning a degree at Ohio State University, then a law degree at Yale. While recounting his life, he also describes his relatives and neighbors, and he interprets the many dilemmas of his hillbilly culture. 
Vance was born in 1984 and grew up in Jackson, Kentucky, a poor town following the collapse of coal mining. His family was beset with poverty, alcoholism, mental instability, and more. His mother had nine miscarriages and suffered from addictions; she had multiple husbands. The culture around him suffered from domestic violence, drug abuse, hoarding, unemployment, honor defended by fists, knives, or guns, as well as bad financial habits, bad diets, obesity, lack of exercise, sugary drinks, dental problems, and what he calls “emotional poverty.”  There was welfare abuse and, in general “a chaotic life.”  He credits his grandparents, other relatives, various teachers and professors for supporting him, guiding him, and comforting him when he was hurt, angry, and/or confused.

Like many other hillbillies, J.D. moved some hundred miles north into southern Ohio, where steel companies provided jobs—that is, until they closed, like many other employers in the Rust Belt. There also, hillbillies were left without income and social problems increased. Stores and restaurants closed. Payday lenders and cash-for-gold shops took their place. Drug dealers and users took over empty houses.  

After high school, Vance joined the Marines. He credits the military for teaching him discipline, persistence, and for developing his self-respect. For his success at Yale, he thanks his professors, his girlfriend (later wife), and classmates for helping him understand customs of New England society. One example: he leaves a banquet to call his girlfriend; she instructs him on how to handle the nine pieces of unfamiliar silverware surrounding his plate.  

The last three chapters (11, 12, 13) and the conclusion analyze his experience on more conceptual terms, including the “social capital” prized by the the New England world, social instability of the culture he was raised in, and “adverse childhood experiences” (or ACEs), the psychologists’ phrase for the damaging events children experience in a culture of poverty, violence, and limited futures. He writes that governmental child services have policies that don’t understand the important roles of aunts, uncles, and grandparents in subcultures that rely on extended families.  Indeed, faithful to his mother, he, as an adult, provides specific help to her. 


Many Americans know something about the multiple problems of our inner cities, but they are much less likely to know about the multiple cultures of hillbillies, native Americans living on reservations, or backwoods people of, say, Idaho.  Vance’s book is important for providing an intimate, specific, and thoughtful description and analysis of his society, a hidden pocket of America.   

He shares the feelings of a growing child: uncertainty, fear of violence, loneliness, and anger because of the threats and injustices endemic to his world. Additionally, he describes the loneliness of being an outsider to New England manners, assumptions about reality, and more.   

Readers will enjoy the success story of a talented and hard-working man, now a good writer, a lawyer, and “a principle at a leading Silicon Valley Investment firm,” according to the jacket flap. Nonetheless, he still appreciates the good parts of his Scots-Irish roots, including, “an intense sense of loyalty, a fierce dedication to family and country” (p. 3).  

While moving inductively from his experience to pervasive concepts, he also draws on sociologists, historians, Brookings publications, and news reports to help him understand his life and, now, to give a fuller context to readers beyond his world.  

As a social critic, he describes how economic policies and structural changes in mining, steel, etc. have impacted the Appalachian white working class. He describes inefficiencies in welfare programs and the long-lasting effects of poor education and poor public health.  

The word “elegy” is indeed appropriate.  This book laments the losses and persisting deaths within a culture in continuing crisis, even as it is surrounded by the larger culture dominated by the American Dream of wealth, advancement, and privilege. 


The cover of the hardbound edition shows a weathered barn with a tin roof on a gravel road.  Trees are bare.  The terrain is hilly, with dark clouds overhead. 


HarperCollins Publishers

Place Published

New York



Page Count