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  • Hillbilly Elegy

  • A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis
  • By: J. D. Vance
  • Narrated by: J. D. Vance
  • Length: 6 hrs and 49 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (380 ratings)

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Hillbilly Elegy cover art

Hillbilly Elegy

By: J. D. Vance
Narrated by: J. D. Vance
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Publisher's Summary

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.   

Artwork used with permission from Netflix, Inc.  

©2016 J. D. Vance (P)2016 HarperCollins Publishers

Critic Reviews

"The memoir gripping America.... Vividly articulates the despair and disillusionment of blue-collar America." ( Sunday Times)
"Vance's description of the culture he grew up in is essential reading for this moment in history." (David Brooks, New York Times)
"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)
"Quietly thoughtful, poignant...while the political timeliness of Hillbilly Elegy is undeniable, Vance truly shines when he takes us with him 'down the holler' into an America we thought we knew - until we realized how little of it we truly understood." ( Huffington Post)
"Looking back on his youth, and all he fled, yields a frank, unsentimental, harrowing memoir, Hillbilly Elegy. It's a superb book given an extra layer of importance by its political reverberations: When Vance returns home these days, he sees yard after yard festooned with Trump signs." ( NY Post)
"You will not read a more important book about America this year." ( Economist)

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What listeners say about Hillbilly Elegy

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Puts it all in perspective

Have not read a better book in years. Not bittersweet, just raw truth. Thank you Mr Vance

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interesting insight into American culture.

well written. great insight into American culture. well worth a read, highly recommended

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Revelation

For those outside of the USA, this book offers an insightful explanation for the previously unfathomable reason for Trumps eventual political success.

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Thank you for the healing!

Amazing to hear the perspective from another person from a similar socioeconomic rung in childhood.
Our experiences may differ, however our struggles are the same.
Thank you JD!

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Worth the time to listen to

Well written and beautifully narrated. Interesting true story about love, resilience and families. This story needs to remain successful for generations to come.

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Excellent. Insightful and informative.

JD Vance has written a work that allows a view of a social group from the eyes of an insider, at the same time allowing the reader to share in his personal growth. I am an Australian and I can relate his views, of the challenges faced by those excluded, to several groups of our own society; one supposedly more inclusive than that of 'the greatest nation on Earth's. Thank you for your story and insights. I feel a better and more informed member of society for the knowledge.

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An excellent read

For a young man you did extremely well JD Vance. I'm in my 70's and can relate to your memoirs. Your narration is excellent. There is a lot to learn from your story and the way you value the role of each individual who make up that story. Thank you.

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Struggling with the american dream

heartwarming story of a family moving up in current USA society. it's not easy, but if you work hard, it's paying off.

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Who knew?

Like most people my knowledge of Hillbillies was based on stereotypes with little understanding of this community.
I was fascinated and totally absorbed by the journey of J.D. Vance as it also applied to disadvantaged communities everywhere. I had new insights insight and so appreciated the honest and not self pitying tone of the author.

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A book well worth the read

There appears to be such honesty in this frank account of this young mans life. His clever analysis is made all the more impactful because it is his life, his family and his tribe.

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