Hillbilly Elegy

earned considerable wealth in the
process. Rose, Betty, Teaberry, and
David stayed behind. All of them
struggled financially, though everyone
but David managed a life of relative
comfort by the standards of their
community. The four who left died on a
significantly higher rung of the
socioeconomic ladder than the four who
stayed. As Papaw knew when he was a
young man, the best way up for the
hillbilly was out.
It was probably uncommon for my
grandparents to be alone in their new
city. But if Mamaw and Papaw were
isolated from their family, they were
hardly segregated from Middletown’s