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Friday, August 2, 2019

Hillbilly Elegy by JD Vance

It took me a very long time to get through this book.  The hardest part was getting started.  My local library will allow you to have a book out for up to 9 weeks at a time if nobody else wants the book.  I did that five times before I even cracked the book open.  Then a couple more times before I got to around page 50 and the whole thing started to make more sense and get into the weeds of why rural southern communities are really different and challenged in the 21st century.
This is one of the most recommended books for those who want to try to understand people who vote against their self interests.  I would say that there is a bit of that here, but it is really a clear look at what people who grow up in poverty see and so not see about the world around them.  The main problem for me is that it recycled old tropes about how people are responsible for their own actions, and doesn't acknowledge the things that industry have foisted upon the region.  It is written by a Republican would be my guess.
Be that as it may, the short answer is that there are no short solutions, it is much more food for thought than a blue print out, and maybe it isn't even that.  It wasn't as good as I hoped, but better than I feared.

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