This is a story of struggle and the communities which recreate it. An application of personal experience on the statistical narrative of people in poor communities. Poverty is not a racial issue as all peoples experience it. What is needed is to know where to look. The communities left behind by opportunities, vanishing jobs, all the while being racked by drug abuse and strife. The people are not lazy by want, by forced to be seen as lazy by the way the various aspects of society create the circumstance that they are in. Each individual can succeed, but that is difficult when society creates a perception of impossible odds. Held down not for want of effort or skill, but for personal and social experiences. In this way, those who are able to leave these communities tend to have a much higher rate of success than those who stay. What is needed is a revaluation of not only the policies design to help people, but also how we treat each other.

In early childhood, J.D. had lots of instability. Most of the time Vance drifted between different homes. His mother kept getting married, and then divorced. His mother’s drug abuse and violent behavior caused family problems. At times splitting time between living with his mother or grandmother because he was not safe with just his mother. Although J.D.’s mother had a nursing license, she lost it due to drug abuse. Depending on the time frame and who J.D.’s mother was with, they sometimes had more than enough money, other times there was real financial trouble. But, when J.D. was sick, his mother knew how to navigate the healthcare system to ask appropriate questions. The male relatives taught J.D. how to stand up for himself, in a violent manner. To defend the honor of the family. Although many had many vices of their own.

There were two sources of stability in early childhood which were his sister Lindsay, and grandmother who he called mamaw. Lindsay acted as the mother to J.D. Mamaw was a reliable safety net. Mamaw taught J.D. a code of honor, or a semblance of it, relating to working hard and not making life more difficult for those who are already having a difficult time. Intolerant to any familial disloyalty. No matter how bad things got, mamaw and papaw (J.D.’s grandfather), always had optimism for their children’s future. The society expectations may not have been high, but J.D.’s grandparents provided a different set of expectations. Papaw helped J.D. with school work. J.D. felt his dependence on mamaw acutely and did not want to be a burden to her.

It was not only mamaw’s stability that helped J.D. survive and find opportunities to prosper, it was also the military. The military untaught J.D. many unhealthy habits, except how to shoot a gun in which he was previously taught good habits. It was not just discipline, it was a lifestyle change which J.D. carried with him afterwards. Many military members helped him along the way to become a mature adult. Marine Corps taught J.D. not to underestimate himself. The military was tough, but some in the military who knew J.D.’s grandmother thought that living with her was tougher. The military, in this book, is portrayed in a positive perspective. With various racial and income backgrounds, they were taught to respect other people’s culture without imposing their own.

The culture of hillbillies is one that has trouble in abundance. Turning to the law is of no importance because the people will correct their own deviances. Mired in poverty which the educational system does not foster many opportunities to go further in education or get high income jobs. Drug addiction is not the only unhealthy substance, as most people eat unhealthily, and are physically unhealthy. The problem about this culture is that the people will not take accountability for their society, as they do not want to speak about it so as not to be judged. They want to fix their own problems, but without assistance, they lack treatment for basic problems. What little income they have tends to be spent on covering up their personal problems rather than getting themselves info financially stable position.

J.D. learned from extreme experiences that he recognized would have made his family seem like lunatics. They were not from J.D.’s perspective because the stories told were all and righting wrongs, and his relatives were the on the right side. The experiences people have in their childhood are the tools used later in life, even when the experiences do not fit their circumstance.

This book isn’t difficult to read, but some parts are confusing because the book is not a simple narrative. Partly because the situation is not simple, and partly because the story comes from memory which the author recognizes is not consistent. The author discusses experiences which put him in contact with different cultures, but rather than try to understand and respected either, he chooses to keep them separate. Sometimes taking a complex view of a situation, but sometimes being a bit simplistic, as in decodes a harsh reality but the missing info seems to prevent a fuller understanding. This is not a drawback of the book considering that this is a memoir and not an academic study, but the parts of the book which had the personal experience attached to the general academic studies provided more in-depth understanding.
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"This was my world: a world of truly irrational behavior. We spend our way into the poorhouse. We buy giant TVs and iPads...Thrift is inimical to our being...Our homes are a chaotic mess. We scream and yell at each other like we're spectators at a football game. At least one member of the family uses drugs...At especially stressful times, we'll hit and punch each other, all in front of the rest of the family, including young children...We don't study as children, and we don't make our kids study when we're parents. Our kids perform poorly at school. We might get angry with them, but we never give them the tools -- like peace and quiet at home -- to succeed....We choose not to work when we should be looking for jobs. Sometimes we'll get a job, but it won't last. We'll get fired for tardiness, or for stealing merchandise and selling it on eBay, or for having a customer complain about the smell of alcohol on our breath, or for taking five thirty-minute restroom breaks per shift. We talk about the value of hard work but tell ourselves that the reason we're not working is some perceived unfairness: Obama shut down the coal mines, or all the jobs went to the Chinese...We talk to our children about responsibility, but we never walk the walk."

I've been waiting to read this of-the-moment book, and grabbed it when I saw it on my library's Speed Read shelf. As I started reading it, I realized it wasn't exactly what I was expecting. I was expecting something that was part memoir, part social history, but this book is almost entirely memoir.

I read this book specifically looking for insight into the lives angry, white, working-class population that comprises Donald Trump's base. On that measure, I can't say that I come away from the book with any better understanding than I had at the beginning. No aha! moments aside from own hypotheses going into the book. Perhaps something more academic like [b:White Trash: The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America|27209433|White Trash The 400-Year Untold History of Class in America|Nancy Isenberg|https://d2arxad8u2l0g7.cloudfront.net/books/1453059367s/27209433.jpg|47250924] would provide more answers. ( )

LT Title of Book, Author, Publisher, year of publication, dates I read/studied book
Recommended by [if anybody], Where is hard copy?

Theme:
Type:
Value:
Age:
Interest:
Objectionable:
Synopsis/Noteworthy:

3 embrace of cultural tradition
193-4 trusting institutions
220 social capital chap 13
22-2 mannersw
237 Christianity
243 courts 261
249 pajamas
256 what can we do?

It’s weird to read autobiography of a 40-yr-old. It starts off rather mundane but picks up nicely as you get further along. ( )

Strange to have read this and related closely to the author’s experiences, yet come to such different political and ethical perspectives than he touts on social media. One of those books that I wish I hadn’t looked into the author so much because it kind of ruined the read for me. ( )