Hillbilly Elegy Book Summary - Hillbilly Elegy Book explained in key points

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Hillbilly Elegy summary

Name: Hillbilly Elegy
Rating: 4 (117 reviews)
Author: J.D. Vance

J.D. Vance

A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis

4 (117 ratings)

16 mins

Brief summary

Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance is a powerful memoir that explores the author's journey from a disadvantaged Appalachian upbringing to personal and professional success.

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Autobiographies Memoirs Biographies

Table of Contents

Hillbilly Elegy
Summary of 7 key ideas

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Key idea 1 of 7

What’s in it for me? Take a hillbilly’s journey to success.

The American Dream is usually a tale of climbing out of poverty, breaking away from a disadvantaged upbringing, and aiming for the stars. If you achieve the American dream, you show that anything is possible – even when the odds are against you.

In these blinks, a classic American dream story is told from the perspective of a former hillbilly turned successful entrepreneur. J.D. Vance grew up against a family backdrop of frequent fights, money problems, and a revolving door of father figures, but still managed to make it, first in the Marine Corps and later in a leading Silicon Valley investment firm.

In these blinks, you’ll learn

how hillbillies got their name;
what led to a city’s demise; and
how three rules and a loving grandmother helped a troubled boy out of his misery.

J.D.’s grandparents grew up as middle-class “hillbillies” – an option that no longer exists today.

J.D. Vance was born a hillbilly. He grew up poor in an Ohio steel town that had been bled dry of both its jobs and its hope. That’s why he identifies with millions of working-class white Americans of Scottish and Irish descent – people who seldom have college degrees and who experience poverty as a family tradition.

But to truly understand this lineage, we need to go back to the lives of his grandparents. They were hillbillies too, and their experience was typical of this group.

Known endearingly as Mamaw and Papaw, they were born around 1930 in Jackson, Kentucky. They were hill people or hillbillies, as residents of the Appalachian Mountains are called – sometimes derogatorily.

In search of work, they left Kentucky for Middletown, Ohio where Papaw landed a job at Armco, a major steel company. And he wasn’t the only one. During the 1950s, Armco aggressively recruited Kentuckians, flooding Ohio’s towns and cities with people like J.D.’s grandparents.

This factory job allowed the couple to retire comfortably middle class. But today, the situation for hillbillies is much different. Towns like Jackson, Kentucky have been devastated by poverty.

As a result, in many instances, hill people are synonymous with “poor people.” Practically a third of Jackson is impoverished, including half of its children. Although the public schools are in such disrepair that the state has seized control of them, local parents have no choice but to enroll their children in high schools that send barely any students to college.

The people of Jackson are also in generally poor physical health. A 2009 ABC news documentary on Appalachian America reported that young kids suffer painful dental problems, often caused by overconsumption of sugary soft drinks.

But while Jackson is a prime example of Appalachian poverty, this plight is common to cities and towns across the region, which have been drained by the outsourcing of jobs. In the blinks that follow, you’ll learn how this industrial shift affected the personal lives of the hillbillies who call Appalachia home.

J.D.’s mother was born into a tumultuous home, and raised in poverty.

J.D.’s uncle describes the childhood home he shared with Bev, J.D.’s mother, as a happy middle-class household. But to an outside observer, his rosy description seems wide of the mark. In fact, it was constantly on the verge of collapse. Here’s the story:

Bev was born in 1961 and, by the mid-1960s, her father’s drinking had gotten out of control. One Christmas Eve, Papaw returned home drunk, demanding a freshly cooked dinner. When one failed to materialize, he hurled the family’s Christmas tree out the back door.

A rough upbringing deeply impacted J.D.’s early years.

Around the same time J.D. was taking his first steps, his parents were filing for divorce. For several years after they split up, his father was increasingly estranged and, at the age of six, the young boy was adopted by Bob, his mother’s new husband.

During the same period, his mother got her nursing license. While she had never gone to college, she had a deep commitment to education. She overloaded him with books, and his family was generally a happy one.

As a teenager, J.D. relocated nearly constantly as his mother was institutionalized.

J.D. grew up with a constantly changing cast of father figures as his mom swapped boyfriends frequently. But there was always one stable male force in his life: his grandfather, Papaw.

Papaw would practice math with him and although he had failed to do so himself, taught him to respect women.

Living with his grandmother turned J.D.’s life around before he found stability in the military.

Now in Miamisburg, at the home of his mother’s new husband Ken, J.D. felt trapped in a stranger’s house. He had never felt so lonely in his life.

Naturally, his grades reflected this feeling, and he nearly dropped out of high school. But luckily for him, his mom’s relationship with Ken wouldn’t last. When they broke up, he moved back in with Mamaw. Living with her for the next three years would save his life.

The military helped J.D. excel in life, but with success came an awareness of being different.

While he was in the Marines, J.D.’s grandmother passed away. She was a longtime smoker and, at 71, her lungs simply gave out. It’s probably already clear that Mamaw was the best thing that ever happened to him, and the effort she’d put in paid off.

In large part thanks to her support, he started college at Ohio State University in 2007. He was thrilled to begin this new chapter and to make a home for himself in Columbus.

In escaping poverty, Vance teaches us all a timeless lesson.

During his time at Yale, J.D. fell for a classmate. Her name was Usha, and they would soon start dating, helping him to feel at home in his new Ivy League environment. The significance of this transformation really can’t be overstated since Yale is all about who you know.

His experiences in this environment taught him about what economists call social capital – the networks of people and institutions that humans use to their economic benefit. After all, at Yale, networking is as natural as breathing. Students don’t submit résumés upon graduating; they just know people. As a result, they can shoot a friend an email or have their uncle make a call, and count on a job or at least an interview.

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What is Hillbilly Elegy about?

Hillbilly Elegy (2016) is an autobiographical walk through the life of a man who grew up in an impoverished neighborhood of Middletown, Ohio. These blinks tell the story of a boy who, despite a turbulent childhood, beat the odds and pulled himself out of poverty.

Hillbilly Elegy Review

Hillbilly Elegy (2016) offers an insightful look into the struggles and triumphs of J.D. Vance's life. Here's why you should read it:

It provides a unique perspective on the challenges faced by the working-class in rural America.
The author's personal story of resilience and determination is both inspiring and thought-provoking.
The book sheds light on the complex social and economic issues that impact millions of Americans.

Experience J.D. Vance's transformative journey by reading Hillbilly Elegy today.

Best quote from Hillbilly Elegy

My home is a hub of misery.

—J.D. Vance

Who should read Hillbilly Elegy?

“Hillbillies” and people from Appalachia
Sociologists and scholars of the white American working class
Believers in the American dream

About the Author

J.D. Vance was raised in the American “rustbelt” in a city called Middletown, Ohio. He enlisted in the Marine Corps after high school and served in Iraq before graduating from Ohio State and Yale Law School. He now works at a leading Silicon Valley investment firm.

Categories with Hillbilly Elegy

Biography & Memoir Society & Culture

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