This book has been on my to-read list for a few years now, but the selection of the author as the running mate for Donald Trump rapidly moved it up the list.
JD is born to a teenage mother in Ohio in a community of immigrants from rural Kentucky. His father gives him up pretty early in life and his mother goes thru substance abuse and a string of boyfriends / husbands. Apparently this is not an unusual upbringing in the poverty struck towns of Appalachia or for that matter any rust belt ex-manufacturing towns in heartland America. As the Clinton democrats increasingly aligned themselves with the white collar coastal liberals and large organizations who were moving manufacturing jobs out of the US , it is no surprise to the author why these former democratic strongholds are attracted to the MAGA rhetoric of Donald Trump.
The author credits his ability to overcome his background to the stable home environment that his gun-toting hillbilly grandmother provided. This is a conservative pitch for the traditional family structures and example of how liberal social mores and poverty combine to make a dangerous social concoction.
Even though he somehow completes high school the poor rural boy was too intimidated to even consider university admission. It was his 4 year stint in the marines that gave him the structure discipline and confidence to face life. Something like this could be one of the upsides of the Agniveer scheme in India.
Though there are parallels between the migration of poor from the dust bowls of Oklahoma and the migration from rural Kentucky this book is no Grapes of Wrath. Similarily while the author's personal story is inspiring as a writer he is no John Steinbeck.
