Hillbilly Elegy. A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

Half autobiography, half sociological essay, J D Vance explains how his Appalachian family's folkways were both an obstacle and a catalyst towards overcoming all sorts of terrible adversity growing up as a child in a fundamentally dysfunctional family marked by violence and drug abuse. The author provides the reader with a detailed analysis of the factors in his environment which were paradoxically both counterproductive and conducive to his rise above a chaotic homelife. Vance's maternal grandparents, pure products of rural Appalachia, are portrayed as the unlikely agents of the author's drive to leave the Rust Belt of Ohio and pursue his dreams as Yale University law graduate. A well-balanced re-examination of the 'American Dream' that never waxes maudlin nor self-righteous : Hillbilly Elegy illustrates what one can achieve in American society in choosing to listen to one's inner voice rather than succumbing to the path of least resistance to mediocrity.