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The New Yorker's article on how this book falls apart under a professional fact-checker's work: “The Story That “Hillbilly Elegy” Doesn't Tell”, August 16, 2024
“When Vance Told Appalachians to Leave Appalachia”
A decade ago, Vance wrote that the Appalachian poor should abandon their “destructive” communities and stop blaming others for their misery. Now, all he does is blame.
We've learned, painfully, that for the multigenerational poor, home might be the worst enemy. Appalachian loyalty to the land is the stuff of legend, yet the stubbornness of poverty in the region means that those who stay risk being poor forever. When the government paved thousands of miles of roads in Appalachia, it hoped to provide employment for the masses and infrastructure to sustain future economic growth. But the best and most lasting effect of those roads was to give people a faster way out. If we cannot improve the urban ghetto or the mountain hollow—and the evidence suggests we can't — then the best anti-poverty program is a ticket to somewhere else.—J. D. Vance, 2014
The New Yorker's article on how this book falls apart under a professional fact-checker's work: “The Story That “Hillbilly Elegy” Doesn't Tell”, August 16, 2024
“When Vance Told Appalachians to Leave Appalachia”
A decade ago, Vance wrote that the Appalachian poor should abandon their “destructive” communities and stop blaming others for their misery. Now, all he does is blame.
We've learned, painfully, that for the multigenerational poor, home might be the worst enemy. Appalachian loyalty to the land is the stuff of legend, yet the stubbornness of poverty in the region means that those who stay risk being poor forever. When the government paved thousands of miles of roads in Appalachia, it hoped to provide employment for the masses and infrastructure to sustain future economic growth. But the best and most lasting effect of those roads was to give people a faster way out. If we cannot improve the urban ghetto or the mountain hollow—and the evidence suggests we can't — then the best anti-poverty program is a ticket to somewhere else.—J. D. Vance, 2014