Hillbilly Elegy

In his memoir Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, J. D. Vance writes passionately about growing up in the isolated, poverty-stricken town of Middletown, Ohio. The book is divided into three sections; the first section is a brief introduction to Vance’s family members and the lifestyle they grew up with in their Appalachian home in Kentucky. The second section describes his grandfather’s alcoholism, his mother’s bout with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, as well as his interaction with his physically and emotionally abusive grandmother. The third section describes J. D. graduating from high school and enlisting with the US Marine Corps after dropping out of Ohio State University; he served two tours of duty in Iraq before leaving the Marines to return to Ohio State for law school studies.