Hillbilly Elegy

where even the nice homes had been
converted into multi-family apartment
units. I didn’t know until recently that
this neighborhood was actually two
neighborhoods—one inhabited by
Middletown’s working-class black
population, the other by its poorest white
population. Middletown’s few housing
projects stood there.
Then there was the area where we
lived—mostly single-family homes, with
abandoned warehouses and factories
within walking distance. Looking back, I
don’t know if the “really poor” areas
and my block were any different, or
whether these divisions were the
constructs of a mind that didn’t want to