Hillbilly Elegy

own bills. I’d never done any of those
things. But I knew that I wanted more out
of my life. I knew that I wanted to excel
in college, get a good job, and give my
family the things I’d never had. I just
wasn’t ready to start that journey. That’s
when my cousin Rachael—a Marine
Corps veteran—advised that I consider
the Corps: “They’ll whip your ass into
shape.” Rachael was Uncle Jimmy’s
oldest daughter, and thus the dean of our
generation of grandchildren. All of us,
even Lindsay, looked up to Rachael, so
her advice carried enormous weight.
The 9/11 attacks had occurred only a
year earlier, during my junior year of
high school; like any self-respecting