“What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia” complicates the story of the region, and that’s a good thing

Appalachian writer and public historian, Elizabeth Catte, has been making the rounds recently to discuss her new book, “What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia,” a remedy for 2016’s much discussed and reviewed “Hillbilly Elegy,” by J.D. Vance.

Catte pushes back on the stereotypical ideas perpetuated in “Hillbilly Elegy.” As Catte puts it in an interview with Cincinnati Magazine:

The Appalachia Vance created has been created in his own image, using his harrowing childhood to project a reality onto 25 million people and a region that spans 700,000 square miles. His Appalachia is monolithic. Like so many politicians and cultural elites, he produces a version of the region that contains and compartmentalizes a lot of what is wrong with our country.

You can read more about “What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia” in the following interviews with Catte and reviews of the book:

• “Appalachia Deserves More Than J.D. Vance,” By Ann-Derrick Gaillot, The Outline
• “New Book on Appalachia Take J.D. Vance Behind the Woodshed,” By Jim Branscome, Daily Yonder
• “The Hills Have Lies,” By Frank Guan, Bookforum
• “Put Down ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ and read this book instead,” By Erin Keane, Salon
• “Elegies And Effigies: Who Speaks for Appalachia?” The 1A

You can purchase “What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia” directly from the publisher, Belt Publishing, or where most books are sold.