Hillbilly Elegy_ A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis ( PDFDrive.com )

me through a publication process that
initially scared the hell out of me. She
has the heart of a hillbilly and the mind
of a poet, and I’m honored to call her a
friend.

Besides Tina, the person who
deserves the most credit for this book’s
existence is Amy Chua, my Yale
contracts professor, who convinced me
that both my life and the conclusions I
drew from it were worth putting down
on paper. She has the wisdom of a
respected academic and the confident
delivery of a Tiger Mother, and there
were many times that I needed (and
benefitted) from both.

The entire team at Harper deserves

tremendous credit. Jonathan Jao, my
editor, helped me think critically about
what I wanted the book to accomplish
and had the patience to help me
accomplish it. Sofia Groopman gave the
book a fresh eye when it was
desperately needed. Joanna, Tina, and
Katie guided me through the publicity
process with warmth and skill. Tim
Duggan took a chance on this project and
me when he had little reason to do so.
For all of them, and their work on my
behalf, I’m very thankful.

Many people read various drafts and
offered important feedback, from
questioning the choice of a word in a
particular sentence to doubting the

wisdom of deleting an entire chapter.
Charles Tyler read a very early draft and
forced me to hone in on a few core
themes. Kyle Bumgarner and Sam
Rudman offered helpful feedback early
in the writing process. Kiel Brennan-
Marquez, who has had the official and
unofficial burden of teaching me writing
for many years, read and critiqued
multiple drafts. I appreciate all of their
efforts.

I’m grateful to the many people who
opened up about their lives and work,
including Jane Rex, Sally Williamson,
Jennifer McGuffey, Mindy Farmer, Brian
Campbell, Stevie Van Gordon, Sherry
Gaston, Katrina Reed, Elizabeth

Wilkins, JJ Snidow, and Jim
Williamson. They made the book better
by exposing me to new ideas and
experiences.

I’ve been fortunate to have Darrell
Stark, Nate Ellis, Bill Zaboski, Craig
Baldwin, Jamil Jivani, Ethan (Doug)
Fallang, Kyle Walsh, and Aaron Kash in
my life, and I consider each of them
more brother than friend. I’ve been
fortunate, too, to have mentors and
friends of incredible ability, each of
whom ensured that I had access to
opportunities I simply didn’t deserve.
They include: Ron Selby, Mike Stratton,
Shannon Arledge, Shawn Haney, Brad
Nelson, David Frum, Matt Johnson,

Judge David Bunning, Reihan Salam,
Ajay Royan, Fred Moll, and Peter Thiel.
Many of these folks read versions of the
manuscript and provided critical
feedback.

I owe an incredible amount to my
family, especially those who opened
their hearts and shared memories, no
matter how difficult or painful. My sister
Lindsay Ratliff and Aunt Wee (Lori
Meibers) deserve special thanks, both
for helping me write this book and for
supporting me throughout my life. I’m
also grateful to Jim Vance, Dan Meibers,
Kevin Ratliff, Mom, Bonnie Rose
Meibers, Hannah Meibers, Kameron
Ratliff, Meghan Ratliff, Emma Ratliff,

Hattie Hounshell Blanton, Don Bowman
(my dad), Cheryl Bowman, Cory
Bowman, Chelsea Bowman, Lakshmi
Chilukuri, Krish Chilukuri, Shreya
Chilukuri, Donna Vance, Rachael Vance,
Nate Vance, Lilly Hudson Vance, Daisy
Hudson Vance, Gail Huber, Allan Huber,
Mike Huber, Nick Huber, Denise
Blanton, Arch Stacy, Rose Stacy, Rick
Stacy, Amber Stacy, Adam Stacy,
Taheton Stacy, Betty Sebastian, David
Blanton, Gary Blanton, Wanda Blanton,
Pet Blanton, Teaberry Blanton, and
every crazy hillbilly I’ve ever had the
honor to call my kin.

Last, but certainly not least, is my
darling wife, Usha, who read every

single word of my manuscript literally
dozens of times, offered needed
feedback (even when I didn’t want it!),
supported me when I felt like quitting,
and celebrated with me during times of
progress. So much of the credit for both
this book and the happy life I lead
belongs to her. Though it is one of the
great regrets of my life that Mamaw and
Papaw never met her, it is the source of
my greatest joy that I did.

Notes

1. Razib Khan, “The Scots-Irish as Indigenous
People,” Discover (July 22, 2012),
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/07/the-
scots-irish-as-indigenous-people/#.VY8zEBNViko.

2. “Kentucky Feudist Is Killed,” The New York
Times (November 3, 1909).

3. Ibid.
4. Phillip J. Obermiller, Thomas E. Wagner, and E.
Bruce Tucker, Appalachian Odyssey: Historical
Perspectives on the Great Migration, (Westport, CT:
Praeger, 2000), Chapter 1.
5. Ibid.; Khan, “The Scots-Irish as Indigenous
People.”
6. Jack Temple Kirby, “The Southern Exodus,

1910–1960: A Primer for Historians,” The Journal of

Southern History 49, no. 4 (November 1983), 585–

600.

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid., 598.

9. Carl E. Feather, Mountain People in a Flat

Land: A Popular History of Appalachian Migration

to Northeast Ohio, 1940–1965 (Athens: Ohio

University Press, 1998), 4.

10. Obermiller, Appalachian Odyssey, 145.

11. Kirby, “The Southern Exodus,” 598.

12. Elizabeth Kneebone, Carey Nadeau, and Alan

Berube, “The Re-Emergence of Concentrated

Poverty: Metropolitan Trends in the 2000s,” Brookings

Institution (November 2011),

http://www.brookings.edu/research/papers/2011/11/03-

poverty-kneebone-nadeau-berube.

13. “Nice Work if You Can Get Out,” The

Economist (April 2014),

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-

economics/21600989-why-rich-now-have-less-leisure-

poor-nice-work-if-you-can-get-out.

14. Robert P. Jones and Daniel Cox, “Beyond Guns

and God.” Public Religion Institute (2012),

http://publicreligion.org/site/wp-

content/uploads/2012/09/WWC-Report-For-Web-

Final.pdf.

15. American Hollow (documentary), directed by

Rory Kennedy (USA, 1999).

16. Linda Gorman, “Is Religion Good for You?,”

The National Bureau of Economic Research,

http://www.nber.org/digest/oct05/w11377.html.

17. Raj Chetty, et al., “Equality of Opportunity

Project.” Equality of Opportunity.” 2014.

http://www.equality-of-opportunity.org. (The authors’

“Rel. Tot. variable” measures religiosity in a given

region. The South and Rust Belt score much lower

than many regions of the country.)

18. Ibid.

19. Carol Howard Merritt, “Why Evangelicalism Is

Failing a New Generation,” The Huffington Post:

Religion (May 2010),

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/carol-howard-

merritt/why-evangelicalism-is-fai_b_503971.html.

20. Rick Perlstein, Nixonland: The Rise of a

President and the Fracturing of America (New

York: Scribner, 2008).
21. “Only 6% Rate News Media as Very

Trustworthy,” Rasmussen Report. February 28, 2013,
http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics
(accessed November 17, 2015).

About the Author

J .D. VANCE grew up in the Rust Belt
city of Middletown, Ohio, and the
Appalachian town of Jackson, Kentucky.
He enlisted in the Marine Corps after
high school and served in Iraq. A
graduate of the Ohio State University
and Yale Law School, he has contributed
to the National Review and is a
principal at a leading Silicon Valley
investment firm. Vance lives in San
Francisco with his wife and two dogs.

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Credits

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Copyright

HILLBILLY ELEGY. Copyright © 2016 by J.D. Vance.
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