Hillbilly Elegy

encouragement or opportunity for an
aspiring law student with three children
and a husband.
Despite the setbacks, both of my
grandparents had an almost religious
faith in hard work and the American
Dream. Neither was under any illusions
that wealth or privilege didn’t matter in
America. On politics, for example,
Mamaw had one opinion—“They’re all
a bunch of crooks”—but Papaw became
a committed Democrat. He had no
problem with Armco, but he and
everyone like him hated the coal
companies in Kentucky thanks to a long
history of labor strife. So, to Papaw and
Mamaw, not all rich people were bad,