Summary of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy
Key Takeaways & Analysis
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Summary of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy
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Narrated by:
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Melissa Disney
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By:
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Sumoreads
About this listen
Don't miss this summary of J.D. Vance's best-selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis. Vance's book offers a thoughtful and introspective look at his hillbilly past, while opining on larger lessons for the poor, white working class as a whole. This SUMOREADS summary offers key takeaways, themes, and analysis to distill Vance's powerful story that is both a personal triumph and a commentary on American society.
What will you learn from listening to this book?
- The struggle that white working-class Americans endured after the implosion of an industrial economy
- Why the unemployment, poverty, and addiction of the white underclass is self-inflicted
- How J.D. Vance beat the odds to rise above a despondent poverty-stricken community and live the American Dream
- How instability and adverse childhood experiences create a vicious cycle of mistrust, violence, and poverty in working class communities
- How personal choices can counteract cultural inheritance and propel upward mobility
- The role of social support and cultural exposure in relieving the plight of the white underclass and inner city communities
Book Summary Overview
In this deeply moving memoir, J.D. Vance draws from his experiences growing up in a poor and socially isolated neighborhood to reveal the plight of the white underclass and show what upward mobility in America takes today. Hillbilly Elegy paints a candid, non-judgmental picture of the beliefs and choices feeding the downward spiral in inner cities and white working class communities in modern America.
Vance brings his childhood and youth to life in a no-holds barred account that is as appalling as it is illuminating. Anyone curious about the gradual decline of the white working class will find this memoir an irresistible listen.
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- A Blueprint for Life
- By: Kevin Powell
- Narrated by: Ezra Knight, Kevin R. Free, Glymph Glymph
- Length: 7 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 266
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 224
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 223
An NAACP Image Award nominee, The Black Male Handbook is an impassioned call to end the problems facing today's Black men. Author and activist Kevin Powell offers insights on steering away from violence and toward a more responsible manhood. A new climate is rising in the Black community. Despite a shared thirst for cutting-edge opportunities and fresh directions, today's hiphop generation is still plagued by many long-standing problems.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Awesome and very useful book.
- By Derek on 06-10-18
By: Kevin Powell
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Generation Me
- Why Today's Young Americans Are More Confident, Assertive, Entitled - and More Miserable Than Ever Before
- By: Jean M. Twenge PhD
- Narrated by: Randye Kaye
- Length: 12 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 59
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 52
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Story4 out of 5 stars 52
In this provocative new book, psychologist and social commentator Dr. Jean Twenge documents the self-focus of what she calls "Generation Me" - people born in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. Dr. Twenge explores why her generation is tolerant, confident, open-minded, and ambitious but also cynical, depressed, lonely, and anxious. Dr. Twenge reveals how profoundly different today's young adults are - and makes controversial predictions about what the future holds for them and society as a whole.
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4 out of 5 stars
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I mostly agree
- By David Hill on 05-25-20
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Disintegration
- The Splintering of Black America
- By: Eugene Robinson
- Narrated by: Alan Bomar Jones
- Length: 7 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 121
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 103
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 101
The African American population in the United States has always been seen as a single entity: a "Black America" with unified interests and needs. In his groundbreaking book Disintegration, longtime Washington Post journalist Eugene Robinson argues that, through decades of desegregation, affirmative action, and immigration, the concept of Black America has shattered.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Written for Popular Consumption
- By Catherine S. Read on 06-03-11
By: Eugene Robinson
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All the Single Ladies
- Unmarried Women and the Rise of an Independent Nation
- By: Rebecca Traister
- Narrated by: Candace Thaxton, Rebecca Traister - introduction
- Length: 11 hrs and 39 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,129
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 987
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 979
In a provocative, groundbreaking work, National Magazine Award finalist Rebecca Traister, "the most brilliant voice on feminism in this country" (Anne Lamott), traces the history of unmarried women in America who, through social, political, and economic means, have radically shaped our nation.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Excellent book, destroyed by narration
- By Theresa Holleran on 03-06-16
By: Rebecca Traister
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High Price
- A Neuroscientist's Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know About Drugs and Society
- By: Carl Hart
- Narrated by: J.D. Jackson
- Length: 11 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 743
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 665
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 665
A pioneering neuroscientist shares his story of growing up in one of Miami's toughest neighborhoods and how it led him to his groundbreaking work in drug addiction. As a youth, Carl Hart didn't realize the value of school; he studied just enough to stay on the basketball team. At the same time, he was immersed in street life. Today he is a cutting-edge neuroscientist - Columbia University's first tenured African American professor in the sciences.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Outstanding!
- By DaWoolf on 04-01-14
By: Carl Hart
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The Nordic Theory of Everything
- In Search of a Better Life
- By: Anu Partanen
- Narrated by: Abby Craden
- Length: 10 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,013
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 873
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 867
Moving to America in 2008, Finnish journalist Anu Partanen quickly went from confident, successful professional to wary, self-doubting mess. She found that navigating the basics of everyday life - from buying a cell phone and filing taxes to education and childcare - was much more complicated and stressful than anything she encountered in her homeland. At first she attributed her crippling anxiety to the difficulty of adapting to a freewheeling new culture. But as she got to know Americans better, she discovered they shared her deep apprehension.
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4 out of 5 stars
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A non-radical perspective on two societies
- By kwdayboise (Kim Day) on 06-20-17
By: Anu Partanen
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The Formula
- Unlocking the Secrets to Raising Highly Successful Children
- By: Ronald F. Ferguson, Tatsha Robertson
- Narrated by: Cynthia Farrell
- Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 128
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 109
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 109
In The Formula: Unlocking the Secrets to Raising Highly Successful Children, Harvard economist Ronald Ferguson, named in a New York Times profile as the foremost expert on the US educational "achievement gap," along with award-winning journalist Tatsha Robertson, reveal an intriguing blueprint for helping children from all types of backgrounds become successful adults.
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4 out of 5 stars
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would recommend
- By Marcia on 02-25-20
By: Ronald F. Ferguson, and others
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American Spirit
- Profiles in Resilience, Courage, and Faith
- By: Taya Kyle, Jim DeFelice
- Narrated by: Taya Kyle
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 38
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 35
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
From Taya Kyle, New York Times best-selling author of American Wife and widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle, an inspiring collection of stories, both personal and drawn from American history, that showcase the resilience of the “American spirit”.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Just love Taya Kyle!
- By Rebecka R. Murray on 05-14-19
By: Taya Kyle, and others
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Sign My Name to Freedom
- A Memoir of a Pioneering Life
- By: Betty Reid-Soskin
- Narrated by: Betty Reid-Soskin
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 43
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 35
In Betty Reid Soskin’s 96 years of living, she has been a witness to a grand sweep of American history. When she was born in 1921, the lynching of African-Americans was a national epidemic, blackface minstrel shows were the most popular American form of entertainment, white women had only just won the right to vote, and most African-Americans in the Deep South could not vote at all. From her great-grandmother, who had been enslaved until her mid-20s, Betty heard stories of slavery and the times of terror and struggle for Black folk that followed.
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3 out of 5 stars
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How she stressed Creole, but I guess it was a badge if honor not being regular black.
- By Satisfied customer on 05-21-24
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The End of Men
- And the Rise of Women
- By: Hanna Rosin
- Narrated by: Laural Merlington
- Length: 9 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 161
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 135
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Story4 out of 5 stars 132
Men have been the dominant sex since - well, the dawn of mankind. And yet, as journalist Hanna Rosin discovered, that long-held truth is no longer true. At this unprecedented moment, women are no longer merely gaining on men; they have pulled decisively ahead by almost every measure. Already "the end of men" - the phrase Rosin coined - has entered the lexicon as indelibly as Simone de Beauvoir’s "second sex", Betty Friedan’s "feminine mystique", Susan Faludi’s "backlash", and Naomi Wolf’s "beauty myth" have.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Great book, don't care for the reader's style
- By Darren on 12-05-12
By: Hanna Rosin
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A Nation of Nations
- A Story of America After the 1965 Immigration Law
- By: Tom Gjelten
- Narrated by: David Colacci
- Length: 12 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 28
In 1950, Fairfax County, Virginia, was 90 percent white, 10 percent African American, with a little more than 100 families who were "other". Currently the African American percentage of the population is about the same, but the Anglo white population is less than 50 percent, and there are families of Asian, African, Middle Eastern, and Latin American origin living all over the county. A Nation of Nations follows the lives of a few immigrants to Fairfax County over recent decades as they gradually "Americanize".
By: Tom Gjelten
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How We Can Win
- Race, History and Changing the Money Game That’s Rigged
- By: Kimberly Jones
- Narrated by: Kimberly Jones
- Length: 6 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall5 out of 5 stars 126
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 112
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Story5 out of 5 stars 111
In How We Can Win, Jones delves into the impacts of systemic racism and reveals how her formative years in Chicago gave birth to a lifelong devotion to justice. Here, in a vital expansion of her declaration, she calls for Reconstruction 2.0, a multilayered plan to reclaim economic and social restitutions - those restitutions promised with emancipation but blocked, again and again, for more than 150 years. And, most of all, Jones delivers strategies for how we can effect change as citizens and allies while nurturing ourselves in the fight against a system that is still rigged.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Valid points made, but contradictory as well...
- By Julian C. Young on 01-28-22
By: Kimberly Jones
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30 Lessons for Living
- Tried and True Advice from the Wisest Americans
- By: Karl Pillemer Ph.D.
- Narrated by: Sean Pratt
- Length: 8 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 308
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 261
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 259
More than 1,000 extraordinary Americans share their stories and the wisdom they have gained on living, loving, and finding happiness. After a chance encounter with an extraordinary 90-year-old woman, renowned gerontologist Karl Pillemer began to wonder what older people know about life that the rest of us don't. His quest led him to interview more than one thousand Americans over the age of 65 to seek their counsel on all the big issues- children, marriage, money, career, aging.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Solid advice, however memory may bias it
- By Glenn on 10-08-12
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Coming Apart
- The State of White America, 1960–2010
- By: Charles Murray
- Narrated by: Traber Burns
- Length: 12 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 772
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 631
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 626
In Coming Apart, Charles Murray explores the formation of American classes that are different in kind from anything we have ever known, focusing on whites as a way of driving home the fact that the trends he describes do not break along lines of race or ethnicity.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Brilliant & Flawed
- By Douglas C. Bates on 05-15-12
By: Charles Murray
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Manifesto
- On Never Giving Up
- By: Bernardine Evaristo
- Narrated by: Bernardine Evaristo
- Length: 6 hrs and 7 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 30
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 22
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
From the best-selling and Booker Prize-winning author of Girl, Woman, Other, Bernardine Evaristo’s memoir of her own life and writing, and her manifesto on unstoppability, creativity, and activism.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Glorious performance and inspiring story
- By Maggi Morehouse on 01-25-22
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Enemies in Love
- A German POW, a Black Nurse, and an Unlikely Romance
- By: Alexis Clark
- Narrated by: Allyson Johnson
- Length: 5 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 277
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Performance4 out of 5 stars 243
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Story4 out of 5 stars 243
This is a love story like no other: Elinor Powell was an African-American nurse in the US military during World War II; Frederick Albert was a soldier in Hitler’s army, captured by the Allies and shipped to a prisoner-of-war camp in the Arizona desert. Like most other black nurses, Eleanor pulled a second-class assignment, in a dusty, sun-baked - and segregated - Western town. Brought together by unlikely circumstances and racist assumptions, Elinor and Frederick should have been bitter enemies; but instead, at the height of World War II, they fell in love.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A Unique Previously Untold Story
- By Avid listener LK on 09-17-18
By: Alexis Clark
What listeners say about Summary of J.D. Vance's Hillbilly Elegy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 12-18-19
Made me wish I’d bought the book instead
The chapter summaries are a waste of time. The themes section is good. If they mean what they say that they hope I buy the book, they’ve done their job
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