J D VanceHillbilly elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance

Growing up of Kentucky, but often not living in it (because his parents moved to Indiana before they split), Vance provides a compelling spotlight on hillbilly life, which reads across to disaffected/disenfranchised poor people everywhere. His parents split up, his father disappeared for years, his mother had a succession of boyfriends and a drug habit, there was little work to be had as the auto plant closed down, many of his peers ended up in and out of prison. What saved Vance was (a) he was smart, but, even more, (b) his maternal grandparents provided a base of stability and a work ethic that helped him to believe in himself and to pursue education and, eventually, a successful career: although, even then, years later, he suffers from imposter syndrome, a deep-seated belief that he doesn’t really deserve the good job, the loving wife and kids.The social background is fascinating – people on the fringes of mainstream society, almost literally, hidden away in the hollers of the Appalachians – with their own codes of honour, interacting enough with The Man to get money, but feeling excluded and not expecting to achieve beyond some personal status at a local level, and kind of institutionalised low self-esteem. Bad things that happen are always someone else’s fault: and Vance gives examples of this delusional self-righteousness, such as the guy who worked with him in the tyre depot who is outraged at getting sacked, even though he hadn’t bothered to turn up for work half the time. There are parallels with the UK in terms of the working-class areas which have lost their purpose as the industries which gave them meaning – coal, steel, shipbuilding, textiles – have disappeared and not been replaced, and the close community ties which bind people make it hard to leave, or to even to believe there’s a way out – for example, via education. In the US, the problem is exacerbated by distance and sheer physical isolation. Other countries will have their own variants of communities built around things which are no longer there and which suffer from that aimlessness.To say, as some do, that this explains Trump or Brexit is perhaps over-egging the pudding: but it offers a picture of people abandoned by the march of progress, who then withdraw into themselves in a disconnect from the mainstream. And not only is it hard for individuals to motivate themselves break out of that mould, but it also offers a fruitful field for populists to draw on, to blame Other People (foreigners, the metropolitan elite) for that disadvantage and to ride that “righteous” anger to some political end (like Brexit or Trump 2016).Overall, a terrific read, with some great insights, from someone who has actually lived it and got out (but still can’t quite believe it).

Este é um dos melhores livros que li nos últimos tempos. O autor conta sua trajetória de vida desde quando era uma criança em família pobre no interior dos Estados Unidos até quando se formou em Direito em Yale, uma das mais renomadas faculdades dos EUA.Juntamente com sua história de vida, o autor faz uma análise da cultura das pessoas à sua volta e em como essa cultura reforça o comodismo, prejudica a meritocracia, e torna quase impossível que pessoas pobres tenham chances (e condições) de sair da pobreza.Apesar de o livro aparentemente tratar de uma cultura diferente da nossa, achei que muitas das descrições e análises se aplicam bastante à realidade brasileira.

Es muss ein seltsames Gefühl sein, sich gleichzeitig zwei Lagern zugehörig zu fühlen, die sich so verständnislos und unversöhnlich gegenüberstehen wie Elite und Unterschicht in Amerika. Als J. D. Vance vor 32 Jahren im amerikanischen Rostgürtel geboren wurde, als Sohn einer drogensüchtigen, von einer Beziehung zur nächsten driftenden Mutter, hätte niemand geglaubt oder gehofft, ja nicht einmal gewollt, dass er eines Tages einen Yale-Abschluss, einen einträglichen Beruf und einen autobiographischen Bestseller würde vorweisen können. Dass er das geschafft hat, ist einer Reihe glücklicher Umstände zu verdanken, allen voran seinen liebevollen, für lange Jahre die Elternrolle übernehmenden Großeltern, aber auch der Cousine, die ihn überzeugte, zwischen High School und College vier Jahre bei den Marines einzuschieben, wo man ihm nicht nur Disziplin eingehämmert hat, sondern auch die Erkenntnis, vermeintlich unerreichbare Ziele aus eigener Kraft erreichen zu können. Es ist aber durchaus nicht so, dass J. D. Vance seine Vergangenheit hinter sich gelassen hätte - tief drinnen steckt nach wie vor der Hillbilly, und er bekommt den Spagat seines Lebens immer wieder schmerzhaft zu spüren. Das verleiht dem Buch seine besondere Glaubwürdigkeit.Anhand seiner Schwierigkeiten und derer seiner Familie erzählt er von den traurigen Überbleibseln der amerikanischen Arbeiterklasse, ihrem Ehrenkodex und ihrer damit verbundenen Neigung zur Gewalttätigkeit, der Vernachlässigung durch Politik und Wirtschaft und wie sie sich damit abgefunden hat: Im Bewusstsein, an der eigenen Lage sowieso nichts ändern zu können, kann man sich bequem einrichten. In diesen Kreisen kommt ein Aufstieg à la J. D. ohnehin dem Verrat an den Seinen gleich.Inzwischen gilt das Buch, obwohl der Leibhaftige nicht ein einziges Mal genannt wird, als DIE Erklärung für Trumps Erfolg. Der wird zum Beispiel auch in dem Interview thematisiert, das J. D. Vance im Juli vergangenen Jahres dem "American Conservative" gegeben hat, wo er dem damaligen Kandidaten attestiert, als erster und einziger die Nöte dieser vergessenen Bevölkerungsgruppe adressiert und ihren Hass auf die Eliten, von denen sie mit Verachtung, bestenfalls mit Herablassung beäugt wird, erfolgreich angezapft zu haben. (Nach der Lektüre von "Hillbilly Elegy" muss man allerdings bezweifeln, dass die von Trump verheißenen Jobs in der Schwerindustrie kompatibel sind mit dem von den Versuchungen des Wohlfahrtsstaats korrumpierten Arbeitsethos, das Vance seiner Generation mit hoch erhobenem Zeigefinger bescheinigt.)Wenn man in dem Buch nach konkreten Auswegen aus der Misere sucht, dann vergeblich - vor allem des Autors eigenes Schicksal wurde von zu vielen ungewöhnlichen Konstellationen und Zufällen beeinflusst, um als Blaupause dienen zu können -, allerdings verspricht es auch nichts dergleichen. Stattdessen gibt es mit seiner eigenartigen Mischung aus herzlichem Mitgefühl und schonungsloser Ehrlichkeit eine Menge Denkanstöße, die die Diskussion in zielführende Bahnen lenken, weg von Stereotypen und Vorurteilen, gerade indem Vance immer wieder eindrucksvoll belegt, dass er weiß, wovon er spricht.

A fine family history that offers much insight into what has happened to the children and grandchildren of the generation of poor whites who - like their black contemporaries - who moved from rural America (in this case Appalachia) to work in the factories of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan in the postwar years. This brought a new prosperity to these families for a time; but by the late 1970s, the de-industrialization of the American Rust Belt has left their descendants in an environment where there is little work and little hope. Vance presents a portrait of family life that is disintegrating, of widespread abuse of prescription drugs, and of widespread abuse of the welfare system. However, he is also critical of liberal social programs that he believes have contributed to people feeling little sense of agency, and he argues that too many people blame 'the government' instead of trying to do something about their situation themselves. Vance's portrait of his own extended family - rife with problems, but also a source of love and strength - is colourful and well told, and the lessons he draws from it will be thought-provoking for anyone who wants to understand the anger and despair that characterizes too many Rust Belt communities today.

Un libro, per alcuni versi, molto americano, scritto da una persona che, partendo svantaggiata ha potuto studiare nelle migliori università e realizzarsi. Insomma il sogno americano che si realizza. Ma che getta uno sguardo sull'America di chi non riesce a far parte del sogno. La classe di assistiti, poveri, rappresentati da una classe media, bianca, distrutta da scelte sociali, economiche e politiche che hanno lasciato profonde cicatrici. Droga, emarginazione e assistenza per una categoria di emarginati, non solo dalla società, ma anche dalla narrativa ortodossa.