Monday, September 24, 2018

Quick Review - The Hillbilly Elegy


Finished reading/listening to the Hillbilly Elegy; I must admit, I was skeptical if I'll have the attention span to finish the whole book - but the newly minted long drive to work (total of 70-80min in a day) afforded to listen to the audio book.

Impressions: Riveting read - and gave a great insight into the Rust belt; for someone like me, who has recently moved to America and trying to understand the Trump phenomenon, it resonated with me; I could connect a lot of this to what happens in India, particularly in the rural areas...

I did sense a gap though;  while I understand some of the cultural ethos that the author has  talked about that pervades the Hillbillies lives, I'm not sure I heard the root-cause behind those? So, what is the source of, for example, alcoholism and womanizing for the hill people, even when the job and economic opportunities (like Armco) were still abundantly available ? I dont think I read the real root cause of that behaviour ? Is that the hill folks were still rooted in the Hunter-gatherer mentality that they weren't open to social progress (of equality with Women etc) ? Or was a moral code of family and monogamy not part of those - if not, why ?

I still cannot put a finger on, if you peel the onion to the core, what was the essential difference (in mindset, that led to the behaviour) between those Scottish-Irish Whites versus the whites from the North-east or big urban areas ? I believe, the lack of opportunities or dire economic situations came in much later in 90s; but it seemed anger, conflict, self-destruction were part of the DNA of hillbillies - not sure what is the anthropological reason to that.