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“The perception that mountain folk like to be poor serves someone — but it’s not the poor mountain folk. The representation of Appalachia as all white is not on
by ixtli 7y ago
“The perception that mountain folk like to be poor serves someone — but it’s not the poor mountain folk. The representation of Appalachia as all white is not only inaccurate, but it preserves a false and destructive ideal of imaginary “pure white stock.” Images of decay and absence allow those in power to turn away from a place that has been forgotten, but has not disappeared. The narrow ideas that circulate about this broad place do active harm.”
Brilliant.
- danesparza 7y agoI'm assuming the commentary is about this book: https://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Elegy-Memoir-Family-Culture/dp/0062300555 https://www.amazon.com/Hillbilly-Elegy-Memoir-Family-Culture... This book is specifically written from one (white guy's) point of view -- somebody who grew up in the area. I'm not sure how the ideas that circulate about this place do active harm. Most (if not all) accounts I've heard about this place are personal accounts. The truth from people who have lived or traveled there. Sometimes the truth hurts. Denying it's truthful isn't helping anybody.
- mbreese 7y agoIt’s right in the first lines of the article. “In the new book “Appalachian Reckoning,” dozens of mountain voices combine to talk back to J.D. Vance’s best-selling “Hillbilly Elegy.” Today, an exclusive story from its co-editor and a powerful essay (which involves Granny, her .38 pistol, and some coal trucks) excerpted from the book.” Part of the point of the article (which was very good) was that there is not singular truth about a place a vast and varied as Appalachia. This new book seems to be much more than a commentary on Hillbilly Elegy.