Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump July 15 announced his vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, whose 2016 memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis’ dramatically portrays a childhood filled with upheaval.
The book was adapted for a 2020 film, directed by Ron Howard, and currently streaming on Netflix. Vance grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and was raised by a mother, Bev, who was addicted to drugs. Bev often physically abused Vance and his sister Lyndsay. Vance himself struggled with the beginnings of a drug addiction at the home of his mother’s new husband. His grandmother Bonnie took over as his primary caregiver.
The strict woman got her grandson through high school and into the military. Vance then used the GI bill to attend college and graduated from Yale in 2013.
Beyond Vance’s personal story, ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ offers glimpses of the struggles of working class, rural America.
