Hillbilly Elegy
A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
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Hillbilly Elegy
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Narrated by:
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J. D. Vance
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Written by:
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J. D. Vance
About this listen
Winner, 2017 APA Audie Awards - Nonfiction
From a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, a powerful 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.
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis - that of white working-class Americans. The decline of this group, a demographic of our country that has been slowly disintegrating over 40 years, has been reported on 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 their grandchild (the author) would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of their success in achieving generational upward mobility.
But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that this is only the short, superficial version. Vance's grandparents, his aunt, his uncle, his sister, and most of all his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life and were never able to fully escape the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. Vance piercingly shows how he himself still carries around the demons of their 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.
©2016 J. D. Vance (P)2016 HarperCollins PublishersWhat listeners say about Hillbilly Elegy
Average Customer RatingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Snair
- 2025-01-30
Eloquence, Honesty, Deep thoughts
I started listening to this reluctantly but I am glad it did it. A must read for everyone especially considering he is the VPOTUS.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
- Paleo hound
- 2018-08-22
Totally worth the buy - great read.
The author gives an excellent explanation of the differences between hillbillies and everyone else. Well done!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- jason spencer
- 2022-12-10
Hillbilly Outsiders
this book is incredible. what an amazing story. 10/10. JD Vance leads a fascinating life.
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Overall3 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Nel
- 2024-07-22
Adverse Child Experience & childhood
The Author seems to understand well, by experience, the need of "a thumb on the balance" to improve opportunities for all children in a "Jesus loving" democracy. He seems to have the wisdome, and the power, to love his neighbors. May God show him the true North.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Mark T
- 2024-11-23
Remarkable story
Only in a free society is this possible and in reading it 8 years after its released JD Vance is now the VP of the USA!! If it wasnt real it would seem unbelievable but such a fantastic listen!!
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Niels Scott
- 2025-01-06
Fantastic
Never slow, well written.
The man is extremely impressive and offers some great insights.
Had me on the verge of tears several times. Both sad and happy.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Angi LT
- 2020-12-19
Deep, moving, heartbreaking and very transferable to other cultural pockets around the world.
I have lived in different countries, different cultures with similar pockets of people to the one JD Vance masterfully describes. My mother and sister as teachers and me as a physician worked inside the core of some of them. We understood that we could not change the culture however, we could with empathy and respect help providing a "route map" and a hand up...
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2 people found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- FB
- 2024-07-23
Really Opened My Eyes
I was truly enlightened to the plight of the working class and Hillbilly culture in the US. It’s tragic and I believe what the author says about strong and healthy family, education and community being the basis and structure for any kind of improvement in their plight. But these tragedies aren’t just in those communities- they are in many of the indigenous communities around the world. Where government can make most of the difference is in making education, free healthcare and family planning THE priority. Thank you to the author.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- dirk
- 2018-09-13
Profoundly candid look at a systemic problem!
The Authour captures an all to common problem in a number of todays societies accross a number of cultures. I enjoyed considering how the mantality described in his story has contributed to todays political, social world climate. Great story! #Audible1
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Simon G.
- 2019-05-16
good book
good book, but the conclusion on how to fix the hillbilly region is kinda lacking. What is proposed is not very tangible.
thank you for making this book possible
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