Hillbilly Elegy

what the world was like? Didn’t they
notice their town changing before their
very eyes? But then I realized: We
didn’t, so why would they?
For my grandparents, Armco was an
economic savior—the engine that
brought them from the hills of Kentucky
into America’s middle class. My
grandfather loved the company and knew
every make and model of car built from
Armco steel. Even after most American
car companies transitioned away from
steel-bodied cars, Papaw would stop at
used-car dealerships whenever he saw
an old Ford or Chevy. “Armco made this
steel,” he’d tell me. It was one of the
few times that he ever betrayed a sense