Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis by J. D. Vance is widely considered to have provided important insight into the "invisible middle" or "white underclass" brought to light in the recent election. The book garnered a top spot on best seller lists from New York Times to Amazon. Knox County Public Library is pleased to welcome Sam Venable, Columnist, Knoxville News Sentinel, to discuss the book at 12 p.m. Wednesday, January 25, in the East Tennessee History Center auditorium, 601 South Gay Street as part of its monthly Books Sandwiched In lecture series. A light lunch will be available for the first 30 attendees.
This event launches a series focused on diversity in partnership with the University of Tennessee College of Arts and Sciences. Books Sandwiched In is a series sponsored by the Friends of Knox County Public Library.
“Hillbilly Elegy is a compelling, personal and often painful look at a family dynamic long unseen--and then either ignored or mismanaged--in 20th and 21st century America,” Venable said.
In Hillbilly Elegy, a former marine and Yale Law School graduate, tells his story of growing up in a poor Rust Belt town. In the telling, he offers a broader, probing look at the struggles of America’s white working class, a passionate and personal analysis of a culture in crisis—that of white working-class Americans. J. D. Vance tells the true story of what a social, regional, and class decline feels like from first-hand experience.
Spring Schedule:
• February 22, The Short and Tragic Life of Robert Peace: A Brilliant Young Man Who Left Newark for the Ivy League by Jeff Hobbs; facilitated by Tatia M. Harris, City of Knoxville
• March 29, Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay; facilitated by Rebecca Klenk, University of Tennessee Department of Anthropology
• April 26, Why? Explaining the Holocaust by Peter Hayes; facilitated by Daniel H. Magilow, University of Tennessee Department of Modern Foreign Languages and Literatures
The series includes a book discussion of Kindred by Octavia Butler, the evening of Tuesday, March 28, led by Dr. Michelle Commander, UT Department of English and Africana Studies Program. Copies of all featured books will be available at Knox County Public Library.