In 2016, J.D. Vance informally launched his political career with "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir that blames the relative poverty of Appalachian and Rust Belt populations on their own culture. Despite its reactionary premise, mainstream and liberal press outlets were so enamored by the book that they accidentally made Vance a senator.<a href='https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod'>Support us on Patreon</a>: <a href='https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod'>https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod</a> Where to find us: <ul><li><a href='https://twitter.com/IfBooksPod'>Twitter</a></li><li><a href='https://www.fivefourpod.com/'>Peter's other podcast, 5-4</a></li><li><a href='https://www.maintenancephase.com/'>Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase</a></li></ul>Sources:<ul><li><a href='https://wvupressonline.com/node/774'>Appalachian Reckoning </a></li><li><a href='https://cewgeorgetown.wpenginepowered.com/wp-content/uploads/Americas-Divided-Recovery-web.pdf'>America’s Divided Recovery </a></li><li><a href='https://www.ucdavis.edu/curiosity/blog/what-did-hillbilly-elegy-get-wrong#:~:text=Film%20critics%20have%20had%20nary,%E2%80%9D%20and%20simply%20%E2%80%9Cawful.%E2%80%9D'>What Did Hillbilly Elegy Get Wrong? </a></li><li><a href='https://newrepublic.com/article/138717/jd-vance-false-prophet-blue-america'>J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America</a> </li><li><a href='https://jacobin.com/2016/10/hillbilly-elegy-review-jd-vance-national-review-white-working-class-appalachia/'>Hillbilly Elitism</a></li><li><a href='https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2740095'>Welfare Queens and White Trash</a> </li><li><a href='https://www.bls.gov/opub/reports/consumer-expenditures/2016/pdf/home.pdf'>Consumer Expenditures in 2016 </a></li><li><a href='https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/issue-briefs/2016/03/household-expenditures-and-income'>Household Expenditures and Income</a> </li><li><a href='https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/201403_cfpb_report_payday-lending.pdf'>CFPB Data Point: Payday Lending </a></li></ul>Thanks to <a href='https://mindseye-music.bandcamp.com/track/the-place-beyond-the-clouds-2'>Mindseye</a> for our theme song!

If Books Could Kill

Hillbilly Elegy

The airport bestsellers that captured our hearts and ruined our minds