Much has been made of the political pirouette J.D. Vance executed to secure the embrace of Donald J. Trump, a man he once called cultural heroin before seeking his endorsement for the Senate and, Wednesday night, accepting the Republican nomination to be his vice president.
The memoir, 'Hillbilly Elegy,' quickly became a go-to guide to the white underclass discontent that propelled Mr. Trump's surprise presidential victory, leveraging Vance's personal account of overcoming dysfunctional family values to tell a larger story about forgotten Americans.
During Mr. Trump's presidency, reaction to the book became increasingly polarized, with Mr. Vance expressing confusion at attacks from both the Left and Right ends of the ideological spectrum, citing accusations of victim-blaming anti-government libertarianism and claims that the book's premise could justify expanding government welfare programs.
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