Many of the most popular books and television shows of 20th century America fixated on the idea of individualist prosperity.
With the news that JD Vance was chosen by Donald Trump to be the Vice Presidential candidate, I shuddered in recognition. As an author and an editor, I have been publishing-adjacent for most of my life. Vance’s story—as recounted in his bestselling book Hillbilly Elegy, a rags-to-riches tale that struck a chord with Americans—was brought into the world by the liberal Manhattan publishing industry in 2016, and after that adapted and adopted by Democratic Hollywood. Pundits quoted Vance constantly for at least a year after the book was published, as if the author was a seer of the poor. They and the progressive culture-makers who were originally smitten by the story of Vance’s gritty early life as well as his speedy ascent into the overclass, are as responsible for Vance’s mythos as Peter Thiel and the Republican Party. In this way, Vance is our monster. Welcome to the Art of the Deal of the Hillbilly.
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