Hillbilly Elegy

would roar. “You’re goddamned right.
Bloody Breathitt got to that son of a
bitch.”
Or there was that day when Uncle
Teaberry overheard a young man state a
desire to “eat her panties,” a reference
to his sister’s (my Mamaw’s)
undergarments. Uncle Teaberry drove
home, retrieved a pair of Mamaw’s
underwear, and forced the young man—
at knifepoint—to consume the clothing.
Some people may conclude that I
come from a clan of lunatics. But the
stories made me feel like hillbilly
royalty, because these were classic
good-versus-evil stories, and my people
were on the right side. My people were