J. D. Vance truly embodies the American dream. The 39-year-old’s incredible journey has taken him from traumatic beginnings in America’s crumbling rustbelt, to Iraq, to Yale law school, to fame on the New York Times bestseller list, to the US Senate, and now, quite possibly, to the White House.
Vance originally rose to public prominence after the publishing of his gripping memoir Hillbilly Elegy, in which he recounts his family’s struggles with addiction, economic hardship, and hopelessness in the American Midwest. With millions of copies sold and a Ron Howard film adaptation to his name, Vance turned into a key cultural representative of the white working class, tapping into the same demographic that propelled Trump to victory across the region in 2016.
