I picked up this book upon recommendation by three of my best friends, in addition to the fact that it was on Bill Gates’s summer reading list, and because the reviews said it explains how Americans elected Trump as the President. The book instantly put my brain in high gear. In a world where personal stories are sometimes lost among data and numbers, J.D. Vance does a fantastic job of painting a picture of white poor American families longitudinally in time and horizontally across the various problems they face in modern America. He also places his family story in the context of industrialization and migration and the vagaries of economy and social policy, and details the apathy and slow decay at all levels with excruciating detail. The book was written wonderfully and in a very direct manner, and it left me with a clear understanding of how a large proportion of Americans became disenfranchised and for whom the American dream has not materialized.

It’s not just that it did a superb job of explaining ‘middle America’. I was impressed by how well the author J.D. Vance told the story of his own family in every disturbing detail while communicating nothing but love and caring for the people he grew up with. Most people would not be so candid or see things so objectively. It takes a leap of faith in humanity for telling it like it is, without fear, guilt, or shame, and that’s exactly what JD accomplished in this book. His family moves from Jackson, Kentucky to Middletown, Ohio in search of jobs and he places his family’s story in the choices they made and in the socioeconomic and political context.

These are the Americans who lost trust in their government, those who have family trees that resemble tangled up cobwebs, those who do not accept that globalization helped the US grow as a country, and people who have difficulty accepting people who are “not like us” and receive immigrants with feelings ranging from mild discomfort to open hostility. They live by a hillbilly honor code and a strong Christian faith although they don’t necessarily go to church more frequently than other Americans. They view ‘others’ with suspicion, and find themselves not being able to relate to those ‘upwardly mobile’ people even if they came from among them. They cannot visualize or relate to success and are largely angry, frustrated and apathetic at the same time. They are caught up in family instability, teen pregnancy, poverty as well as financial indiscipline, drugs, guns, lack of jobs, lack of proper healthcare, lack of health insurance, and abuse of the system. Their lifestyles epitomize learned helplessness. It’s very telling that the families don’t tell their children to get good grades in school, and most of them don’t do much of anything in a planned manner.

Within the crisis of family and culture lies hope, through people like the author himself. In recent years, I have learned to analyze positive outliers. J.D. Vance, who goes by JD, is the first lawyer in his family, and the first one to get education at an Ivy league school. What made J.D. successful when his own peers were left behind? Can J.D.’s success be replicated among the hillbilly families? It seems like what enabled him was the existence of at least one family member (his maternal grandma and grandpa) who gave him a rock-solid place in their hearts and homes, and made him believe in opportunities far beyond their own living circumstances. They taught him courage and bravery, and make him feel very loved, protected, and secure, something that none of his ‘dads’ or his mom were able to do. Their means may sometimes be questionable, but because they were someone he could count on, he loves them dearly. His grandpa teaches him the difference between intelligence and knowledge, and the value of hard work, and makes him practice math at home. His grandma gives him a stable home where he could study after school. His sister, also protected by grandma and grandpa, offers him much needed peer support. Unable to navigate the paperwork for college admission, he chooses to join the marine corps where he learns discipline, hard work, delayed gratification and basic life skills like managing personal finances and planning his own life for the next few years. Coming back home, he sees issues that his people face very clearly. He describes the joy of buying dinner for his entire family with his own hard-earned money for the first time in his life. He learns how successful people are very different and describes the impact of adverse childhood experiences on future success. His mentor at Yale strongly encourages him to write his story and share with everyone. Those of us who love the book ought to be very grateful to this professor; without her, we would not have known his intricate, insightful family story. Last, but not the least, J.D. is an excellent story teller. Without making anyone a villain, he shows the interconnectedness of people and events for a large section of America through his own story. He also offers some excellent analysis and potential modifications to existing policies.

The book is not just a great read – it is eye opening. We need more people like J.D. Vance to tell their stories. If he ever runs for public office in the future, I’m going to cheer him on.

(One of the friends who recommended this book has this to say, “I did find it striking that he got married to someone from an immigrant family with an extremely stable childhood and family who was a complete contrast from his upbringing. It was also impressive that he was willing to blame middle America for perpetuating a culture of laziness and instant gratification. Although this was written as an observational book, I was a little disappointed that he did not offer an analysis (based on observations) of how more people (not just one rare instance like him) would be able to get themselves out of this vicious cycle. I agree that this is a very thought provoking book– what role if any at all does the government have in a deeply distrusting community?)

(Comment from a colleague’s husband: Please pass along to Dr Sreeramoju, that she is spot on with her blog. I can identify with a lot of what JD wrote in his book. I was born in Kentucky about 60 miles south of Lexington near the town of Stanford in Lincoln County. My parents and older sister were living with my Uncle & Aunt and their 5 children in a 4 room house when I came into the world. They wouldn’t have had the money for a hospital even if there was one available at the time so I was born on my Aunt’s kitchen table with just Dr. Blackberry assisting. Our family moved to Norwood, Ohio a small town near Cincinnati. Not too far from where JD grew up. Our town had more industry than JD’s. A few of the biggest differences between JD and me, besides age, is my folks didn’t believe in any government assistance and never abused any drugs or alcohol. My brother on the hand was heavy into the drug & alcohol culture. My parents remained married until my father’s death in 1970. My mother use to tell me they were so poor that, they didn’t know there was a depression back in the 1930’s because nothing changed in their world in that part of Kentucky.)