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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By:
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J. D. Vance
About this listen
THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER / OVER A MILLION COPIES SOLD
From Donald Trump's 2024 Vice-Presidential Candidate
‘Essential reading for this moment in history’ New York Times
‘Brilliant … offers an acute insight into the reasons voters have put their trust in Trump’ Observer
J. D. Vance grew up in the hills of Kentucky. His family and friends were the people most of the world calls rednecks, hillbillies or white trash.
In this deeply moving memoir, Vance tells the story of his family’s demons and of America’s problem with generational neglect. How his mother struggled against, but never fully escaped, the legacies of abuse, alcoholism, poverty and trauma. How his grandparents, ‘dirt poor and in love’, gave everything for their children to chase the American dream. How Vance beat the odds to graduate from Yale Law School. And how America came to abandon and then condescend to its white working classes, until they reached breaking point.
‘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
** Now a major-motion picture directed by Ron Howard and starring Amy Adams, Glenn Close, and Gabriel Basso **
©2016 J. D. Vance (P)2016 HarperCollins PublishersListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
‘Brilliant … offers an acute insight into the reasons voters have put their trust in Trump’ Observer
‘Powerful and highly readable account of the light of the poor white Americans in Kentucky’ Financial Times
‘Essential reading for all yankophiles, politicians and anyone interested in how Donald Trump won over the rust belt to arrive at the White House’ Books of the Year, Sunday Times
‘The memoir gripping America … Vividly articulates the despair and disillusionment of blue-collar America’ Sunday Times
‘A tough-edged elegy for ‘white trash’ hillbilly America’ David Aaronovitch, The Times
‘America’s political system and the white working class have lost faith in each other. ‘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’ Economist
‘Vance’s description of the culture he grew up in is essential reading for this moment in history’ David Brooks, New York Times
‘Clear-eyed and nuanced, a powerful antidote to the clamour of news’ The Times
‘With exquisite timing Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ offers something profound at this time of political populism … a great insight into Trump and Brexit’ Ian Birrell, Independent
‘I bought this to try to better understand Trump’s appeal to those white working-class people who feel left behind, but the memoir is so much more than that … It’s an important social history/commentary but also a gripping, unputdownable page-turner’ India Knight, Evening Standard
What 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
- Amazon Customer
- 03-04-19
Explained a lot about the rust belt in America.
No problem getting this book read...was facinated from beginning to the end. Explains life for the struggling middle white Americans through a very understable journey. JDVance carries us through each element of Hillbilly life from a micro and macro perspective. Read this and you will understand why the all American dream isnt available to everyone.
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7 people found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Alan Mcmillan
- 02-08-24
Working-class hero opportunity missed
This was a surprisingly good listen. If he were a man of principle there is much he could look to do for society in the U.S.
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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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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-08-24
Honestly . So interesting years before nomination as VP
Fascinating insight into self-reliance and determination.and hard work. Let’s see how he brings his personal experience to improve things for people of a similar background if he becomes VP.
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1 person found this helpful
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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
- Michael Riley
- 15-08-24
His resilience
Vance’s story should inspire everyone to persevere and show resilience to achieve our goals in life.
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1 person 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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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Catherine Hamilton
- 24-07-24
He doesn't sound like he would overthrow western liberal democracy.
Seems like quite a nice man actually. More in common with Obama than Trump. Well, we'll see soon enough.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Jean
- 15-09-24
Really interesting
Listening in September 2024 as Vance has been nominated as Trump’s running mate. I found this really interesting as an insight into a part of America about which I know very little. I was shocked at the violence, poverty and drug/drink abuse. I found myself not so interested in Vance but in want his story told me about an aspect of America that I didn’t know.
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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
- Rui Ribeiro
- 08-12-19
Surprisingly addictive and interesting
I had seen the book reviews and the book didn't turn our exactly as I expected. With each chapter ending, i found myself eager to start the next and although I am not very much into personal memoirs, this wasn't a factor with this book, which is a credit to the author and the book.
The book narrates the childhood of the author and it's a good depiction of many of the difficulties faced in may families in the US rust belt. The book is not so much about self bragging but about how the author managed to get out of a vicious circle of low opportunities, drugs and alcohol and terrible parenting, to become an Ivy League graduate (as some other similar books end up being), but is almost a bit distant description of what happened and how important the author's grandmother was in allowing him to break that vicious circle. In its clear and vivid description of his early years, there are important lessons that can be drawn to drive public policies to provide more ways out of similar vicious cycles that end up in lack of opportunities and lives miserably wasted and lost in rural America.
Highly recommended.
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2 people found this helpful
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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
- Amazon Customer
- 04-12-20
Highly recommend
Engaging and informative. Touching and edgy. I didn't expect it to but this book has actually helped me understand the actions and behaviours of a loved one who grew up in hardship.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Kunde
- 28-03-18
So much more than just an autobiography
Absolutely love this interesting and inspiring book that comes with some value lessons. Great listen that is read by the author himself.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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- Bee
- 30-12-16
Unexpectedly good
Really enjoyed this. Not an academic text but an insight into a culture I know little about from a personal point of view. Explains a bit more about why Trump is so popular. A good combination of sympathy, empathy and realism and a reminder of what children do and don't need. I would have liked a a few other perspectives eg if the author had asked his mother why she thought she behaved in the way she did, but maybe that's another book.
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