Here are some reactions from a few people who identify as ‘hillbillies’ and more established media members responding to Vance’s book.
R. Mike Burr: The Self-Serving Hustle of “Hillbilly Elegy”
Aaron M. Renn: Culture, Circumstance, and Agency: Reflections on Hillbilly Elegy
G.W. Para: Hillbilly Fallacy
Elizabeth Catte: For the good of the poor and common people: What Hillbilly Elegy gets wrong about Appalachia’s working class
Mona Charen: What Hillbilly Elegy Reveals About Trump and America
For those of you curious about statistics in the Appalachian region in terms of poverty, unemployment, population and education, here are some maps and statistics to help understand where the Appalachian region has been at since 1980.
Appalachian Regional Commission: Maps
Community Commons: Mapping Poverty in the Appalachian Region
Our book discussion for July is Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance.
As always if you or someone you know wants to join our discussion, they can pick up a copy of the book from the Circulation Desk on the first floor. The discussion for this book will take place on July 31st.
Here is an article from the Baltimore Sun after Wesley Moore is sentenced in 2001.
Here is an article about a retrial being struck down in 2013. A week before, the Sun ran this about the slain officer’s memory.
Here’s a brief interview with Wes Moore that summarizes the book pretty neatly.
Our book for June is going to be The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. The discussion is on June 20th due to the fact that I have an out of state wedding on the 27th. So please mark that down!
As always if you have a friend who wants to join us, we have copies of the current discussion book behind the Circulation Desk on the 1st floor.
Here’s an interview Jeannette Walls gave with Gothamist.
It has some interesting insight from Walls as she talks about her family’s reaction to the book, how insight from readers as made her look at her family, and some thought provoking thoughts about luck.
March Madness? Why not March Memoir? We are going to read The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls for our March 28th discussion
If you have a friend who wants to join the discussion they can pick up a copy from the Circulation Desk. They don’t need to call and sign up. Getting the book gives me an idea for numbers.
True Story Book Club 