Hillbilly Elegy

Hillbilly Elegy is the inspiring autobiography of J.D. Vance who explains how his life began in poverty and turbulence and what he had to do to beat those difficult circumstances and rise to success.

J.D. was born in the rust belt town of Middletown, Ohio. After the local steel manufacturer was outsourced, the people lost their jobs and the property values declined, trapping the residents in poverty. This was the world he was born into.

His father and mother divorced when he was young and he was primarily raised by his mom and her ever-changing boyfriends. Though his mom worked hard as a nurse to provide for her kids, she had problems with drugs and alcohol. J.D. frequently was exposed to violence and yelling.

At one point, his mom got so upset at a slight criticism that she threatened to crash the car. She beat him instead and ended up being carried away in handcuffs by the police.

The constant yelling and violence in his home took a toll on his health and his grades were declining. Things became even worse when his mother attempted suicide on more than one occasion.

His teen years were full of instability as he and his mother moved from place to place with the men she dated. He began to struggle so much because of his home life that he nearly dropped out of high school. But he found new hope when his mother checked into rehab and he moved in with his grandmother.

When he was living with his grandma “Mamaw’, J.D. finally had some stability. She encouraged him to work hard and apply himself in school. Her three rules were that he get good grades, get a job, and help her out. He was happy to finally have structure and complied with these new rules.

His grandmother helped him by buying him an expensive graphing calculator and compelling him to sign up for advanced math. He was finally happy, and he even aced his SAT.

When he graduated, he made the decision to join the US Marines. This is where he learned important life lessons he hadn’t before, like how to take care of himself, how to be a good leader, and how to manage his finances.

After the military, he went to college, worked like crazy, and got into Yale law school. As a poor kid who was the first in his family to get a degree, he realized how different he was from his classmates. It was lonely at times, but he felt optimistic about the future. Vance believed that as long as he worked hard he would land a good job.