How 'Hillbilly Elegy' Changed JD Vance's Life
Forbes reporter Kyle Khan-Mullins joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) and his book "Hillbilly Elegy"
READ MORE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylemullins/2024/07/16/heres-how-much-jd-vance-is-worth/
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READ MORE: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kylemullins/2024/07/16/heres-how-much-jd-vance-is-worth/
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NewsTranscript
00:00And let's talk about the book that really changed his life, and that is Hillbilly Elegy.
00:05Talk to us about what was in that book and what his career looked like then after.
00:12So at this point, it's 2016. J.D. and Usha have moved out of San Francisco.
00:18She started a career at a corporate firm. He's actually pivoting to tech,
00:21was looking for something different to do. But he publishes Hillbilly Elegy, and it's this
00:26smash success. Reportedly over 3 million copies sold across all different platforms and varieties.
00:33So really just an enormous success for him. Made him a lot of money, as far as we can tell.
00:37We don't know exactly how much, but we think it made him quite a bit.
00:41And it came out in the summer of 2016. This is right as Donald Trump was locking up the GOP
00:46nomination the first time. And a lot of people, Republicans and Democrats, but especially people
00:50who lived on the coast, were looking for an explanation of how did this guy come out of
00:55nowhere? And how does he appeal so much to this middle America and the white working class?
01:00And J.D. Vance, in coming out with this book, became a more genteel spokesperson for the white
01:07working class. Think about it. A guy who grew up as a member of the white working class, but then
01:11went to Yale Law School, married a daughter of immigrants. This is somebody who coastal liberals,
01:18perhaps, could relate to a little bit more, but could also talk about some of the issues that
01:24folks in middle America were facing, especially in the Appalachian region.
01:27So that was how everything was framed for him. It ended up being an incredible success for him,
01:31and it unlocked a lot of doors. He pivoted eventually into venture capital, got started
01:37at Peter Thiel's venture capital firm right after that, and that was 2016.