Hillbilly Elegy

served my country in the Marines,
excelled at Ohio State, and made it to the
country’s top law school. I had no
demons, no character flaws, no
problems. But that just wasn’t true. The
things I wanted most in the entire world
—a happy partner and a happy home—
required constant mental focus. My self-
image was bitterness masquerading as
arrogance. A few weeks into my second
year of law school, I hadn’t spoken to
Mom in many months, longer than at any
point in my life. I realized that of all the
emotions I felt toward my mother—love,
pity, forgiveness, anger, hatred, and
dozens of others—I had never tried
sympathy. I had never tried to understand