Hillbilly Elegy

[jsteele]

Has anyone read "Hillbilly Elegy" and interested in talking about it? I just finished the book and have very mixed feelings. It was an interesting memoir, but I don't feel like it lived up to its billing. I don't think that it shed a lot of light on the greater community of "hillbillies". While it was good at highlighting problems, I would have liked to have seen more analysis of the causes of those problems and ideas for solutions.

I'd be interested to hear thoughts about this book from those who are well-read in similar literature about the black community, such as Ta-Nehisi Coates' books. I think there could be some interesting similarities.

[Anonymous]

I found it to be an intereting personal memoir, but didn't think it analyzed/explained the group as a whole which was what I was expecting.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:I found it to be an intereting personal memoir, but didn't think it analyzed/explained the group as a whole which was what I was expecting.

Yes, that's exactly my reaction.

[Anonymous]

I read some excerpts and moved on. I didn't want to read about this man's life/history/family I wanted to get some insight into the group, which is how the book was sold through various interviews etc.

[Anonymous]

I am 15:43 again. I am a foreign non-white person, but my spouse is from a small white blue collar town in the US, and the downfalls shown in the book (drugs, young pregnancy, instability in relationships) is not really news to me, from seeing the lives of some extended family of my spouse. It made me appreciate the role of religion and military more - I viewed it negatively as a naive young liberal person, but now have seen that spouse's extended family with religion and/or military in the background have better lives.
Aren't most Americans already aware of what's shown in the book?

[Anonymous]

I thought it was interesting as a memoir, written by an intelligent young man seeking to reconcile his past with his present. It's obviously positioned him to become a talking head who interprets the views of the lower middle-class whites on various media outlets.

If you want a different take on that segment of society, you could read "Strangers In Their Own Land" by Arlie Russell Hochschild, which just came out, or dust off a dog-eared copy of "What's the Matter with Kansas?" by Thomas Frank.

[Anonymous]

I"m from a small town in middle America that is awfully hillbilly. (though there are no hills around - I'd call them more country). I've had this on my to read list and have seen the guy on TV talking about the book and read a few reviews. What what I've read, it seems like your impression - it's an interesting story of one family, but doesn't necessarily translate well - is the general impression.

So not sure how much I will push to read it - maybe if it pops up at the library. The one thing I will say is that if you're not related or otherwise familiar with white people like this, you don't really get it. My personal experience living in DC surrounded by white liberal educated folks is that there is a huge disconnect from white, lower class, more poorly educated folks.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:Aren't most Americans already aware of what's shown in the book?

That's a good question. I was aware but I grew up in the midwest with family roots in rural southern Illinois (practically Kentucky). But, one would think that there weren't many surprises for most Americans in the book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found it to be an intereting personal memoir, but didn't think it analyzed/explained the group as a whole which was what I was expecting.

Same.

I also can't figure out - was he writing this memoir and it just happened that the Trump phenomenon was happening? Or did he see an opportunity? It's the latter, right, since he's only 31?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I"m from a small town in middle America that is awfully hillbilly. (though there are no hills around - I'd call them more country). I've had this on my to read list and have seen the guy on TV talking about the book and read a few reviews. What what I've read, it seems like your impression - it's an interesting story of one family, but doesn't necessarily translate well - is the general impression.

So not sure how much I will push to read it - maybe if it pops up at the library. The one thing I will say is that if you're not related or otherwise familiar with white people like this, you don't really get it. My personal experience living in DC surrounded by white liberal educated folks is that there is a huge disconnect from white, lower class, more poorly educated folks.

Perhaps you think there's s disconnect , but there's something you need to understand about white liberals —they keep and settle scores . For decades white liberals were demonized in this country by the very people cited in that book and their handlers of the Republican Party . Godless, immoral , welfare distributors , anti American , and so on and so forth.
Today the chickens have come home to roost, does it cross those people minds that the social programs that they virulently opposed because it was going to benefit those 'other people ' or because government is bad might have gone a long way in lessening their burden? Suffering? Pain? Furthermore , unlike their 'God fearing' white conservatives counterparts , liberals have known and cknowledged that those 'other people' have a unique history in this country and faced atrocities that even the poorest of the poor whites hasn't and still doesn't face till this day and as such public policy need to be cognizant of these historical factors and do whatever it takes so members of that community get a fair and legitimate shot at real EMANCIPATION

Long story short, white liberals today have no use for the kind of whites described in that book and rightfully so.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 15:43 again. I am a foreign non-white person, but my spouse is from a small white blue collar town in the US, and the downfalls shown in the book (drugs, young pregnancy, instability in relationships) is not really news to me, from seeing the lives of some extended family of my spouse. It made me appreciate the role of religion and military more - I viewed it negatively as a naive young liberal person, but now have seen that spouse's extended family with religion and/or military in the background have better lives.
Aren't most Americans already aware of what's shown in the book?

They don't seem to know that most black people don't live in the ghetto/have multiple kids with no fathers/are criminals so I'd say, no, not all Americans are aware of what's shown in the book.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I"m from a small town in middle America that is awfully hillbilly. (though there are no hills around - I'd call them more country). I've had this on my to read list and have seen the guy on TV talking about the book and read a few reviews. What what I've read, it seems like your impression - it's an interesting story of one family, but doesn't necessarily translate well - is the general impression.

So not sure how much I will push to read it - maybe if it pops up at the library. The one thing I will say is that if you're not related or otherwise familiar with white people like this, you don't really get it. My personal experience living in DC surrounded by white liberal educated folks is that there is a huge disconnect from white, lower class, more poorly educated folks.

Perhaps you think there's s disconnect , but there's something you need to understand about white liberals —they keep and settle scores . For decades white liberals were demonized in this country by the very people cited in that book and their handlers of the Republican Party . Godless, immoral , welfare distributors , anti American , and so on and so forth.
Today the chickens have come home to roost, does it cross those people minds that the social programs that they virulently opposed because it was going to benefit those 'other people ' or because government is bad might have gone a long way in lessening their burden? Suffering? Pain? Furthermore , unlike their 'God fearing' white conservatives counterparts , liberals have known and cknowledged that those 'other people' have a unique history in this country and faced atrocities that even the poorest of the poor whites hasn't and still doesn't face till this day and as such public policy need to be cognizant of these historical factors and do whatever it takes so members of that community get a fair and legitimate shot at real EMANCIPATION

Long story short, white liberals today have no use for the kind of whites described in that book and rightfully so.

NP and not white but all this ^^^^^^^^^ is why Trump is winning.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found it to be an intereting personal memoir, but didn't think it analyzed/explained the group as a whole which was what I was expecting.

Same.

I also can't figure out - was he writing this memoir and it just happened that the Trump phenomenon was happening? Or did he see an opportunity? It's the latter, right, since he's only 31?

Same here, too. I'm from a similar background, and like him the first to "make it" (that is, college, grad school, a 401k, etc). And I'm a little obsessed with how and why I made it out so I thought this book was going to be great (based on the reviews). Honestly it was kind of disappointing, and I'm also not sure why anyone really cares about his story, specifically. Not to be mean to the guy; it's just that there are a lot of similar stories, so why did this one capture so many? I'm not really sure.

[jsteele]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I"m from a small town in middle America that is awfully hillbilly. (though there are no hills around - I'd call them more country). I've had this on my to read list and have seen the guy on TV talking about the book and read a few reviews. What what I've read, it seems like your impression - it's an interesting story of one family, but doesn't necessarily translate well - is the general impression.

So not sure how much I will push to read it - maybe if it pops up at the library. The one thing I will say is that if you're not related or otherwise familiar with white people like this, you don't really get it. My personal experience living in DC surrounded by white liberal educated folks is that there is a huge disconnect from white, lower class, more poorly educated folks.

Perhaps you think there's s disconnect , but there's something you need to understand about white liberals —they keep and settle scores . For decades white liberals were demonized in this country by the very people cited in that book and their handlers of the Republican Party . Godless, immoral , welfare distributors , anti American , and so on and so forth.
Today the chickens have come home to roost, does it cross those people minds that the social programs that they virulently opposed because it was going to benefit those 'other people ' or because government is bad might have gone a long way in lessening their burden? Suffering? Pain? Furthermore , unlike their 'God fearing' white conservatives counterparts , liberals have known and cknowledged that those 'other people' have a unique history in this country and faced atrocities that even the poorest of the poor whites hasn't and still doesn't face till this day and as such public policy need to be cognizant of these historical factors and do whatever it takes so members of that community get a fair and legitimate shot at real EMANCIPATION

Long story short, white liberals today have no use for the kind of whites described in that book and rightfully so.

Not All white liberals feel that way. I certainly don't.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I found it to be an intereting personal memoir, but didn't think it analyzed/explained the group as a whole which was what I was expecting.

Same.

I also can't figure out - was he writing this memoir and it just happened that the Trump phenomenon was happening? Or did he see an opportunity? It's the latter, right, since he's only 31?

This isn't exactly a new phenomenon, e.g.,:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16197150-angry-white-men

Ta-Nehisi Coates' book Between the World and Me was written mostly as a reaction to the death of his friend Prince Jones a black man who was shot and killed without cause by a police officer (who also happened to be black). That happened in 2000, so not a new phenomenon, but now sadly more frequent:
http://www.democracynow.org/2015/7/22/between_the_world_and_me_ta

Jeff, if you're looking for something to read--I was absolutely fascinated by the interview with the author of Blood at the Root about the racial purging of Forsyth County, GA:
http://www.npr.org/2016/09/15/494063372/the-racial-cleansing-that-drove-1-100-black-residents-out-of-forsyth-county-ga