Hillbilly Elegy

three basic geographic regions. First, the
area surrounding the high school, which
opened in 1969, Uncle Jimmy’s senior
year. (Even in 2003, Mamaw called it
the “new high school.”) The “rich” kids
lived here. Large homes mixed
comfortably with well-kept parks and
office complexes. If your dad was a
doctor, he almost certainly owned a
home or had an office here, if not both. I
dreamed that I’d own a house in
Manchester Manor, a relatively new
development not a mile from the high
school, where a nice home went for less
than a fifth of the price of a decent house
in San Francisco. Next, the poor kids
(the really poor kids) lived near Armco,