What is the Hillbilly Elegy?
In 2016, author J.D. Vance released his New York Times bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy. Unlike any other book I’ve read before, Vance’s book described his personal upbringing in the Appalachians and the Rust Belt—primarily in the town of Middletown, Ohio.
Personally, Hillbilly Elegy is one of my favorite books I’ve ever read. My dad bought it for me as a present for the new year (2021). Little did I know that this book would make teach me a lot about the life experiences of many working-class Americans.
For those unfamiliar with the book’s terminology, “hillbillies” refer to the millions of Americans living near the rural Appalachian mountain—from Tennessee to Kentucky and from Pennsylvania to Ohio. Mainly descending from Scots-Irish settlers, these people populate the setting of J.D. Vance’s early life in Ohio.
In his memoir, Vance points out how the “hillbilly culture” of Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee is what truly led to the decline of this region for the past few decades. Although the offshoring of manufacturing jobs and a lack of high-paying jobs has hurt this region, Vance sees the struggles of the Appalachians as more of a cultural problem rather than a purely economic/public policy problem. His argument struck me as highly interesting. I only ever viewed the issues of this region through an economic lens.
Throughout the book, one major issue that creeps up throughout the book is the familial breakdown and instability that characterizes the Appalachians—which the author experienced first-hand. Vance himself did not have a stable home environment as a child. He barely knew his biological father. His mother married multiple times and moved in with at least half-a-dozen boyfriends during Vance’s youth. Unfortunately, his experience is not out-of-the norm. Opioid abuse, out-of-wedlock births, and welfare are pretty common sights for Rust Belt/Appalachian towns like Middletown, Ohio.
The book’s description of the author’s rough family life made me extremely grateful for this stable upbringing I had as a child. Growing up, I had two loving parents, wonderful grandparents, excellent aunts/uncles, and superb siblings. What more could a guy ask for in this life?
If there’s one lesson we should gain from this memoir, it’s that we need to have an internal locus of control. Instead of blaming his unstable home life and tough circumstances, J.D. Vance decided to overcome his circumstances. After finishing high school, Vance joined the Marines, enrolled at Ohio State University, and graduated from Yale Law school. He worked hard and succeeded in fulfilling the American Dream rather than blame others or government policy as the main reason for failing in life.
Back to the political realm, we should all note that Hillbilly Elegy is not a pro-Trump book. That being said, his memoir points out how this region in America—the Upper Appalachians/Rust Belt— has struggled in recent decades. Though the book is not a political work, the reader should understand why the American white working-class voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016–considering the book was also published in 2016 but prior to the election.
When much of America’s politicians and Big Business is willing to ship Middle America’s jobs overseas, negative consequences will abound.
Even though Vance does blame much of his culture’s woes on people’s poor decision-making, economic policy does still have a significant effect on family formation. According to recent findings from the Urban Institute, parental unemployment often leads to a more unstable family life. Living in a region with poor economic opportunity does impact family formation—making two-parent households less likely to occur when both of a child’s parents are unemployed.
Political Shift in the Rust Belt/Appalachians
For the final part of this post, I want to discuss some of the recent political changes in the Rust Belt and the Appalachians. Let’s compare the 2016 presidential election to the 2000 presidential election
-Kentucky: George W. Bush won by 15%; Donald Trump won by 30%
-Ohio: Bush won by 3%; Trump won by 8%
-Michigan: Al Gore won by 5% (i.e. Bush lost MI) ; Trump won by 0.8%
-Pennsylvania: Gore won by 4%; Trump won by 1%
-West Virginia: Bush won by 6%; Trump won by 42%
-Tennessee: Bush won by 4%; Trump won by 26%
Clearly, a significant shift took place in just a sixteen year span. This memoir tacitly shows us how Middle America reacted to globalization and jobs being sent overseas—it elected an outsider named Donald Trump in 2016. In short, this book unwittingly showed me why many “hillbillies” voted for President Trump.