Publisher printing more copies of JD Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ to meet demand
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The publisher for Sen. JD Vance’s (R-Ohio) memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” is printing hundreds of thousands more copies of the book to meet the surge in demand since former President Trump announced Vance as his running mate.
A spokesperson for HarperCollins told The Associated Press that more than 650,000 copies of the memoir, including physical, audio and e-books, have been sold since Trump announced his vice presidential pick on July 15.
“We are printing hundreds of thousands of copies to fill the demand at our retail partners,” the publisher said, per the AP.
In the hours that followed Trump’s announcement, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” surged to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list.
The memoir, published in 2016, details Vance’s experience growing up in Middletown, Ohio, surrounded by poverty and addiction. The book was popular during and after the 2016 election as political observers sought to understand Trump’s sudden rise in the political world.
Vance, a 39-year-old Marine veteran and Yale Law School graduate, opens up about how the Appalachia region transformed from Democratic to Republican and his chaotic family life. He discusses how he pursued his dreams, despite growing up around violence and alcohol and having few opportunities in working-class white America.
The Hill reached out to HarperCollins for further comment.
The book was adapted into a movie by Ron Howard in 2020, starring Gabriel Basso, Glenn Close and Amy Adams.
Two years later, Vance was elected to his first term in the Senate after winning a crowded primary with the help of Trump’s endorsement.
Despite past criticisms of the former president, Vance emerged as one of Trump’s most visible defenders and has been praised as an articulate voice of the populist conservative movement.
Trump’s choice of Vance as his running mate was quickly criticized by Democrats, who pointed to his transformation from a onetime “never-Trumper” as well as his conservative views on abortion.
— Updated at 3:08 p.m.
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