Book Review...Hillbilly Elegy

I'm on the prowl for opinions that validate my own. Hillbilly Elegy reinforces my suspicion. I loved reading this book because I think it was written as a stimulus for me to crash ahead with an attack on the root of poverty.

Hillbilly Elegy (J.D. Vance)...Book Review by Ed Slater

The Hillbilly Elegy author is a man with a graphic warning plus a tattoo'd blueprint showing the route to an emergency escape. J.D. Vance could just as well be described as the Indiana Jones of the Appalachian poverty syndrome. He found the way out.

J.D. Vance's observations about his “Middletucky” home:

• We don't like people who are different from us.^p3
• We're pessimistic and we're socially isolated.^p4
• Our men suffer from a peculiar crisis of masculinity...it's difficult to adapt to a changing world.^p4
• Too many men are immune to hard work.^p7
• I was the grandson of the toughest woman anyone knew and the most skilled auto mechanic in town.^p13
• Uncle David loved everything but rules.^p15
• There was no disloyalty worse than class betrayal.^p15
• So many men had come and gone but the Blanton men were always there.^p17
• Lots of men had no job and they were proud of it.^p19
• People dealt with uncomfortable truths by avoiding them.^p20
• A man could find the time to make 8 children but not the time to support them.^p21

J.D. Vance's life and conclusions:

• The 3 years I spent with my grandma (Mamaw) uninterrupted and alone saved me. She demanded I get a job, and I did. My job was at a grocery store.^p138
• Find yourself a description of emotional poverty, because a lot of people are trapped by it.^p143
• I consumed books about social policy and the working poor.^p144
• Our elegy is a sociological one. Yes, but it is also psychology, community, culture, and faith.^p145
• We talk to our children about responsibility, but we never walk the talk.^p147
• Everyone needs a stable loving home.^p149

The birth of personal responsibility:

• J.D. Vance joined the Marines, graduated from boot camp, and was instantly treated like a man.^p145
• “The Marine Corps changed my perspective.”^p172
• When I stood and surveyed the children of a war torn nation (Iraq) I began to appreciate how lucky I was.^p173
• The Marine Corps taught me how to live like an adult.^p174
• In the Marines, my boss didn't just make sure I did a good job...he took care of the whole me. The Corps changed my perspective about who cares.^p174
• The Marine Corps builds responsibility into a man.^p182
• Graduated from Ohio State Summa Cum Laude and then Yale Law School. Member of the Bar.^p182
• Learned the meaning and implications of ACEs (adverse childhood events).^p226

Taking responsibility home:

• Schools ranked near the bottom had little to do with staff, but more to do with the students and family culture.^p244
• It's what happens at home that counts.^p244
• It is culture, not politics that determines the success of a culture.^{p261 (Moynihan)}

My takeaway:

1. Attach yourself to a rock of stability and cling to him or her like your life depends on it. Pick Mamaw or Jesus Christ.
2. Know the way to learn personal responsibility. Learn it and live it.
3. When you're convinced you've got it, make sure others learn what you know.