“Hillbilly Elegy,” the controversial memoir that brought Ohio Senator J.D. Vance into the national spotlight, is experiencing a surge in sales following former President Donald Trump’s announcement of Vance as his running mate.
Vance’s 2016 memoir rose dramatically on Amazon’s bestseller list, moving from number 220 to the top spot after Trump’s announcement, according to the Associated Press. The book has already sold more than 1.5 million copies, and experts anticipate that number will grow significantly in the coming months.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Vance outsells Stephen King this year,” said Allan Salkin, co-owner of the New Books Company, to the Wall Street Journal.
“Hillbilly Elegy” covers Vance’s family history in Kentucky and Ohio, and examines the cultural and economic changes that led some white working-class voters to switch from the Democratic to the Republican Party. It discusses topics such as drug addiction, government assistance, and masculinity.
In 2016, Vance stated, “I felt that if I wrote a very forthright, and sometimes painful, book, that it would open people’s eyes to the very real matrix of these problems. Not as many people would pay attention to it if they assumed I was just another academic spouting off, and not someone who’s looked at these problems in a very personal way.”
Initially, the book received praise from conservative media for its critique of the welfare state and what Vance called the “cultural habits” that keep rural whites in poverty. It was also cited by liberal media as a potential explanation for Trump’s 2016 victory.
In 2020, Ron Howard directed a movie adaptation of “Hillbilly Elegy,” starring Amy Adams and Glenn Close. Though the film received mixed reviews, it earned two Oscar nominations—Best Supporting Actress for Close and Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
However, some critics from the Appalachian region argue that Vance’s portrayal relied too much on generalizations and did not accurately reflect life in Appalachia, given his suburban Ohio upbringing.
Sarah Jones, a journalist from the border of southwest Virginia and east Tennessee, criticized the book in the New Republic in 2016, writing, “‘Elegy’ is little more than a list of myths about welfare queens repackaged as a primer on the white working class. Vance’s central argument is that hillbillies themselves are to blame for their troubles.”
Jones continued, “I look at my home and see a region abandoned by the government elected to serve it. Central Appalachia is a sea of distress. If you are born where I grew up, you have to travel hundreds of miles to find a prosperous America. How do you get off the dole when there’s not enough work to go around? Frequently, you don’t.”