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#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER, NAMED BY THE TIMES AS ONE OF "6 BOOKS TO HELP UNDERSTAND TRUMP'S WIN" AND SOON TO BE A MAJOR-MOTION PICTURE DIRECTED BY RON HOWARD
"You will not read a more important book about America this year."-The Economist
"A riveting book."-The Wall Street Journal
"Essential reading."-David Brooks, New York Times
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis-that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported 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 one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.'s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his 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.
"You will not read a more important book about America this year."-The Economist
"A riveting book."-The Wall Street Journal
"Essential reading."-David Brooks, New York Times
Hillbilly Elegy is a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis-that of white working-class Americans. The disintegration of this group, a process that has been slowly occurring now for more than forty years, has been reported 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 one of their grandchildren would graduate from Yale Law School, a conventional marker of success in achieving generational upward mobility. But as the family saga of Hillbilly Elegy plays out, we learn that J.D.'s grandparents, aunt, uncle, sister, and, most of all, his mother struggled profoundly with the demands of their new middle-class life, never fully escaping the legacy of abuse, alcoholism, poverty, and trauma so characteristic of their part of America. With piercing honesty, Vance shows how he himself still carries around the demons of his 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.
"[A] compassionate, discerning sociological analysis...Combining thoughtful inquiry with firsthand experience, Mr. Vance has inadvertently provided a civilized reference guide for an uncivilized election, and he's done so in a vocabulary intelligible to both Democrats and Republicans. Imagine that." - Jennifer Senior, New York Times
"[Hillbilly Elegy] is a beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America....[Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it's so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it...a riveting book." - Wall Street Journal
"[Vance's] description of the culture he grew up in is essential reading for this moment in history." - David Brooks, New York Times
"[Hillbilly Elegy] couldn't have been better timed...a harrowing portrait of much that has gone wrong in America over the past two generations...an honest look at the dysfunction that afflicts too many working-class Americans." - National Review
"[A]n American classic, an extraordinary testimony to the brokenness of the white working class, but also its strengths. It's one of the best books I've ever read... [T]he most important book of 2016. You cannot understand what's happening now without first reading J.D. Vance." - Rod Dreher,The American Conservative
"J.D. Vance's memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy", offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it. You will not read a more important book about America this year." - The Economist
"[A] frank, unsentimental, harrowing memoir...a superb book..." - New York Post
"The troubles of the working poor are well known to policymakers, but Vance offers an insider's view of the problem." - Christianity Today
"Vance movingly recounts the travails of his family." - Washington Post
"What explains the appeal of Donald Trump? Many pundits have tried to answer this question and fallen short. But J.D. Vance nails it...stunning...intimate..." - Globe and Mail (Toronto)
"[A] new memoir that should be read far and wide." - Institute of Family Studies
"[An] understated, engaging debut...An unusually timely and deeply affecting view of a social class whose health and economic problems are making headlines in this election year." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, this memoir is akin to investigative journalism. ... A quick and engaging read, this book is well suited to anyone interested in a study of modern America, as Vance's assertions about Appalachia are far more reaching." - Library Journal
"Vance compellingly describes the terrible toll that alcoholism, drug abuse, and an unrelenting code of honor took on his family, neither excusing the behavior nor condemning it...The portrait that emerges is a complex one...Unerringly forthright, remarkably insightful, and refreshingly focused, Hillbilly Elegy is the cry of a community in crisis." - Booklist
To understand the rage and disaffection of America's working-class whites, look to Greater Appalachia. In HILLBILLY ELEGY, J.D. Vance confronts us with the economic and spiritual travails of this forgotten corner of our country. Here we find women and men who dearly love their country, yet who feel powerless as their way of life is devastated. Never before have I read a memoir so powerful, and so necessary. - Reihan Salam, executive editor, National Review
"A beautifully and powerfully written memoir about the author's journey from a troubled, addiction-torn Appalachian family to Yale Law School, Hillbilly Elegy is shocking, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and hysterically funny. It's also a profoundly important book, one that opens a window on a part of America usually hidden from view and offers genuine hope in the form of hard-hitting honesty. Hillbilly Elegy announces the arrival of a gifted and utterly original new writer and should be required reading for everyone who cares about what's really happening in America." - Amy Chua, New York Times bestselling author of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
"Elites tend to see our social crisis in terms of 'stagnation' or 'inequality.' J. D. Vance writes powerfully about the real people who are kept out of sight by academic abstractions." - Peter Thiel, entrepreneur, investor, and author of Zero to One
"[Hillbilly Elegy] is a beautiful memoir but it is equally a work of cultural criticism about white working-class America....[Vance] offers a compelling explanation for why it's so hard for someone who grew up the way he did to make it...a riveting book." - Wall Street Journal
"[Vance's] description of the culture he grew up in is essential reading for this moment in history." - David Brooks, New York Times
"[Hillbilly Elegy] couldn't have been better timed...a harrowing portrait of much that has gone wrong in America over the past two generations...an honest look at the dysfunction that afflicts too many working-class Americans." - National Review
"[A]n American classic, an extraordinary testimony to the brokenness of the white working class, but also its strengths. It's one of the best books I've ever read... [T]he most important book of 2016. You cannot understand what's happening now without first reading J.D. Vance." - Rod Dreher,The American Conservative
"J.D. Vance's memoir, "Hillbilly Elegy", offers a starkly honest look at what that shattering of faith feels like for a family who lived through it. You will not read a more important book about America this year." - The Economist
"[A] frank, unsentimental, harrowing memoir...a superb book..." - New York Post
"The troubles of the working poor are well known to policymakers, but Vance offers an insider's view of the problem." - Christianity Today
"Vance movingly recounts the travails of his family." - Washington Post
"What explains the appeal of Donald Trump? Many pundits have tried to answer this question and fallen short. But J.D. Vance nails it...stunning...intimate..." - Globe and Mail (Toronto)
"[A] new memoir that should be read far and wide." - Institute of Family Studies
"[An] understated, engaging debut...An unusually timely and deeply affecting view of a social class whose health and economic problems are making headlines in this election year." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Both heartbreaking and heartwarming, this memoir is akin to investigative journalism. ... A quick and engaging read, this book is well suited to anyone interested in a study of modern America, as Vance's assertions about Appalachia are far more reaching." - Library Journal
"Vance compellingly describes the terrible toll that alcoholism, drug abuse, and an unrelenting code of honor took on his family, neither excusing the behavior nor condemning it...The portrait that emerges is a complex one...Unerringly forthright, remarkably insightful, and refreshingly focused, Hillbilly Elegy is the cry of a community in crisis." - Booklist
To understand the rage and disaffection of America's working-class whites, look to Greater Appalachia. In HILLBILLY ELEGY, J.D. Vance confronts us with the economic and spiritual travails of this forgotten corner of our country. Here we find women and men who dearly love their country, yet who feel powerless as their way of life is devastated. Never before have I read a memoir so powerful, and so necessary. - Reihan Salam, executive editor, National Review
"A beautifully and powerfully written memoir about the author's journey from a troubled, addiction-torn Appalachian family to Yale Law School, Hillbilly Elegy is shocking, heartbreaking, gut-wrenching, and hysterically funny. It's also a profoundly important book, one that opens a window on a part of America usually hidden from view and offers genuine hope in the form of hard-hitting honesty. Hillbilly Elegy announces the arrival of a gifted and utterly original new writer and should be required reading for everyone who cares about what's really happening in America." - Amy Chua, New York Times bestselling author of The Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother
"Elites tend to see our social crisis in terms of 'stagnation' or 'inequality.' J. D. Vance writes powerfully about the real people who are kept out of sight by academic abstractions." - Peter Thiel, entrepreneur, investor, and author of Zero to One
Ein Hillbilly erzählt, wie seine Leute den Anschluss an Amerika verloren haben
Mamaw war zwölf, als sie einen Kuhdieb anschoss. Einige Zeit später baggerte ein Fremder das Mädchen an: "Ich will dein Höschen vernaschen." Da holte der Bruder einen Schlüpfer und sorgte mit vorgehaltenem Messer dafür, dass sich der Mann den Wunsch bis auf den letzten Bissen erfüllte. Mit vierzehn wurde Mamaw schwanger. Sie stürzte sich mit ihrem Freund in den Migrationsstrom, der in den vierziger Jahren Abertausende Arme aus den Appalachen in die neuen Industriezentren des Nordens spülte. Mamaws erstes Baby überlebte nur wenige Tage. Ihr Mann fand in Ohio aber gute Arbeit in einem Stahlwerk. Insofern erfüllte sich das Paar den amerikanischen Traum.
Im Innern jedoch blieben sie Hillbillys aus Kentucky. Als Mamaws Ehemann einmal betrunken heimkam und auf dem Sofa einschlief, übergoss sie ihn mit Benzin und warf ein brennendes Streichholz hinterher. Sie hatte ihn gewarnt, und nun gebot es die Ehre, Wort zu halten. Teilnahmslos schaute Mamaw zu, wie ihre elfjährige Tochter die Flammen erstickte. Jahrzehnte später sollte ein Enkel bei ihr wohnen. Brachte der Teenager den Müll nicht heraus, schalt sie ihn als "faules Stück Scheiße".
Dieser Junge ist J.D. Vance, der es zum Investmentbanker gebracht und jetzt mit 31 Jahren seine Memoiren vorgelegt hat. Und "Mamaw", also Oma, war der eine gute Mensch in seinem Leben. Bei ihr gab es Mutterliebe, einen waffenbewehrten Zufluchtsort und eine echte Hillbilly-Heimat. Vance erzählt von der oft nur oberflächlich geglückten Integration der Amerikaner mit irisch-schottischen Wurzeln, die massenhaft aus den Appalachen fortzogen. "Innerhalb von zwei Generationen hatten die verpflanzten Hillbillys bei den Einkommen ... mit den Einheimischen gleichgezogen. Doch hinter dem finanziellen Erfolg verbarg sich kulturelle Fremdheit."
Das Buch "Hillbilly Elegy" ist zugleich die dramatische Geschichte einer Kindheit, in der die Mutter J.D. erst allein und dann gar nicht mehr erzog. Zig Ehen und Partnerschaften der Krankenschwester endeten in bürgerkriegsähnlichen Schlachten. Die Mutter wurde erst tabletten-, dann heroinsüchtig. Einmal tauchte sie nach langer Abwesenheit bei Mamaw auf, wo J.D. inzwischen wohnte, und befahl ihrem erschrockenen Sohn, in einen Becher zu pinkeln. Sie musste eine Urinprobe abgeben, war aber wieder high geworden.
Vance beschreibt in seinem Buch den Niedergang jener Industriestädte, die einst nicht nur Hillbillys anlockten. Immer mehr Firmen setzten auf Roboter oder fanden billige Arbeiter in fernen Ländern. Und doch erzählt Vance eine kaum zu fassende Erfolgsgeschichte: Nachdem die Marineinfanterie den Autor nicht nur für den Krieg, sondern auch fürs Leben ertüchtigt hatte, schaffte er es bis auf die Yale Law School. Dort wurde ihm nicht zuletzt klar, was er über die Welt bis dahin alles nicht wusste. Beim Rekrutierungsdinner einer Anwaltskanzlei fand er mit Ende zwanzig heraus, dass es sprudelndes Wasser gibt. Er spuckte es erschrocken aus. "Reiche und Arme, Gebildete und Ungebildete, Oberklasse und Arbeiterklasse - ihre Angehörigen leben zunehmend in zwei verschiedenen Welten. Als kultureller Auswanderer von der einen Gruppe in die andere ist mir das sehr bewusst." Gegenüber den Zurückgebliebenen habe er sich manchmal wie ein Verräter gefühlt, bekennt Vance.
Im Wahljahr 2016 kommt sein Buch wie gerufen. Es leuchtet eine Kluft aus, deren Existenz viele Amerikaner verdrängen wollten - wohlgemerkt eine Kluft in der weißen Mehrheitsbevölkerung. Donald Trump hat den "vergessenen Männern und Frauen" versprochen: "Ich bin eure Stimme." Vance erklärt dem Leser eine Parallelgesellschaft, in der Trump damit Gehör findet. Der Autor zitiert dabei Studien, die das Los der Hillbillys seiner Meinung nach treffend beschreiben - nur dass es in den besagten Büchern um Afroamerikaner ging, die aus den Südstaaten in den Norden kamen.
Dass ein Präsident wie Barack Obama unter Hillbillys als eine Art Außerirdischer gelte, habe denn auch wenig mit seiner Hautfarbe zu tun. "Nichts an ihm hat Ähnlichkeit mit den Menschen, die ich als Heranwachsender bewundert habe", erklärt Vance. "Sein Akzent - sauber, perfekt, neutral - ist fremd; sein Werdegang so eindrucksvoll, dass er einem Angst einjagt; ... er strahlt das Selbstvertrauen eines Mannes aus, der weiß, dass die moderne amerikanische Meritokratie für ihn aufgebaut wurde" - und eben nicht für die Arbeiter, die vor lauter Schwärmen über ihr Ethos der "harten Arbeit" oft übersähen, wie faul sie seien. Obama, fügt Vance an, "trifft uns im Herzen unserer tiefsten Verunsicherung. Er ist der gute Vater, der viele von uns nicht sind. ... Seine Frau erklärt uns, dass bestimmtes Essen nicht gut für unsere Kinder ist, und wir hassen sie dafür - weil wir wissen, dass sie recht hat." Unter Hillbillys sei es bis heute gängig, schon den Jüngsten Brausegetränke ins Fläschchen zu füllen.
Von außen auf das Milieu zu gucken, dem er entstammt, hat J.D. Vance fast das Herz gebrochen. In ihrer zum Teil durch eigene Schuld perpetuierten Armut hätten sich die Hillbillys immer durch ihre Vaterlandsliebe definiert. Doch es gebe keine Helden mehr, zu denen ganz Amerika aufblicke. "Wir liebten das Militär, aber es gab keinen George Patten in der modernen Armee." Auch das Raumfahrtprogramm bringe keine wahren Helden mehr hervor. Fast nichts verbinde seine Leute noch mit dem Gewebe, das Amerika im Kern zusammenhalte. Jetzt gibt es Trump und sein Versprechen, Amerika "wieder großartig zu machen". Wenn der weißen Arbeiterklasse eins fehle, schreibt J.D. Vance, dann "das Gefühl, dass es auf unsere eigenen Entscheidungen ankommt".
ANDREAS ROSS
J.D. Vance: Hillbilly Elegy. A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Verlag Harper Collins, New York 2016. 264 Seiten.
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