Hillbilly Elegy

family: He spent most of his free time
running around with the Blanton boys,
and he ate most of his meals in Hattie’s
kitchen. It was only natural that he’d
eventually marry her oldest daughter.
Jim married into a rowdy crew. The
Blantons were a famous group in
Breathitt, and they had a feuding history
nearly as illustrious as Papaw’s.
Mamaw’s great-grandfather had been
elected county judge at the beginning of
the twentieth century, but only after her
grandfather, Tilden (the son of the
judge), killed a member of a rival family
on Election Day.^2 In a New York Times
story about the violent feud, two things
leap out. The first is that Tilden never