Hillbilly Elegy by J. D. Vance

This is the memoir that was on the New York Times best-seller list for over a year, written by a man who grew up in Ohio but often spent time in the summers with his grandparents in Breathitt County, Kentucky. His memoir tells of his childhood, his service in the military, and his schooling at Ohio State and Yale Law School. The book also generalizes about our region and occasionally about politics. Interestingly, the New Afterword by the author, focuses on the author’s Republican politics and his belief that poverty is more of a cultural problem than a political one. That actually gives credence to those of us whose initial reviews of the hardback edition focused on that aspect of the memoir. At the end of Vance’s short afterword, he does briefly shift his focus to his family, especially his baby son, Ewan, named after his Mamaw’s father. He writes that he has purchased the land in Breathitt County, Kentucky, where his ancestors resided and that he wants his kid to play there as he di