5 illuminating books about Appalachia that are very much not 'Hillbilly Elegy'

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Before politics, vice presidential candidate Sen. J.D. Vance's claim to fame was his book, "Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis," in which he painted a polarizing picture of Appalachia. The book topped the New York Times bestseller list, but some critics panned Vance for feeding into stereotypes of a region composed mainly of poor rural white people. 

Vance's vision of the area is far from the only example of literature that captures Appalachian culture. Such a diverse region warrants a diverse literary portrait.

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'Affrilachia' by Frank X Walker (2000)

Professor and former Kentucky poet laureate Frank X Walker coined the term Affrilachia in the '90s to encapsulate the cultural contributions of Black Americans living in Appalachia. He also co-founded the Affrilachian Poets collective, which included powerhouse writers like Nikki Finney and Nikki Giovanni, who is "still producing some of the region's best poetry," Kendra Winchester said on Book Riot. Walker's poetry collection is an ode to a community often omitted from the narrative of the region's rich cultural history. His childhood in Kentucky inspired some poems, while others look at his present and are "always returning to the question of what it means to be Black in Appalachia," Winchester said. Order here.

'What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia' by Elizabeth Catte (2018)

If you are looking for a book that is a direct response to some of the more problematic aspects of "Hillbilly Elegy," historian Elizabeth Catte's "What You're Getting Wrong About Appalachia" is a solid answer. The East Tennessean's debut nonfiction book examines "what the media (and stereotypes bred from it) get wrong about Appalachia" and is a "primer on art, literature and policy coming out of the region," said People magazine. Catte's book "deconstructs the stereotypes that drive how we use and abuse underclasses" and "digs deep into the Trump-era meme that Appalachia is a 'white ghetto' voting and acting against its own self-interests," fellow Appalachian author Leah Hampton said in the Los Angeles Times. Order here.

'The Prettiest Star' by Carter Sickels (2020)

In "The Prettiest Star," Carter Sickels tells the story of a young gay man in the final stages of HIV returning home to Appalachian, Ohio, during the early years of the AIDS epidemic. After leaving home to live authentically in New York City, Brian Jackson returns to spend the last of his days in a town where "people think homosexuality is a sin and the disease is divine punishment," said Kirkus Reviews. Sickels' cast of characters are "painfully flawed and wholly, believably human in their failings," Kirkus Reviews added. "This unflinching honesty, conveyed in finely crafted prose, makes for a memorable and unsettling novel." Order here.

'Writing Appalachia: An Anthology' edited by Katherine Ledford and Theresa Lloyd (2020)

Appalachian literature has a long, rich history, and this anthology brings together some of that work in a collection that represents the facets of Appalachian culture. The hefty anthology "serves up the region's iconic talents" in "appetizer-sized portions to tempt a reader to go find their longer works," author Barbara Kingsolver said in The New York Times. The "comprehensive sweep" of the collection moves from "Native American oral traditions, enslaved people's narratives and work songs" through the 20th century into a "modern chorus of queer and straight, white, Black and Indigenous voices," Kingsolver said. The anthology will "put away the stereotype of Appalachians as a dull monoculture." Order here.

'Demon Copperhead' by Barbara Kingsolver (2022)

Speaking of Kingsolver, the best-selling author's Pulitzer Prize-winning book "Demon Copperhead" reimagines the hero of Charles Dickens "David Copperfield" as a young man navigating poverty in contemporary Southern Appalachia. In what The Washington Post called "a feat of literary alchemy," Kingsolver used the "fire of that boy's spirit to illuminate — and singe — the darkest recesses of our country." Kingsolver, with "Demon Copperhead," proved her "best demonstration yet of a novel's ability to simultaneously entertain and move and plead for reform," the Post said. Much of that stems from how "cleverly Demon's experience is woven through the tragedy of opioid addiction in the United States." Order here.