Much has been making news in the last month, from Donald Trump’s assassination attempt to his receiving the Republican nomination for president, to his announcing J.D. Vance as his vice president, to finding out who this Vance person is. One of the best ways to know a person is to read what they wrote. J.D. Vance wrote an autobiography printed in 2016. This book was not written with a slant of today’s politics. It was his view on life growing up. Nonetheless, because of his conservative views in the modern world, a publisher in Germany has banned the printing of Hillbilly Elegy.
The Book
The book is Vance’s perspective of growing up in a poor Appalachian town, It was not until Trump nominated him for his vice-president that the book sales went wild. Per the New York Times, it is on the bestseller list. Because a vice president will have worldly influence, the entire world wants to read this book to see what influenced Vance and to get his thoughts on various subjects.
Germany
Nonetheless, a German printer is banning the printing of Hillbilly Elegy. In Germany, the publishing house Ullstein Buchverlage stopped printing the sold-out German translation. Despite the massive demand for this book, the publisher has refused to print more copies due to his political viewpoints (which are unrelated to the book). Ullstein published the German translation of Hillbilly Elegy in 2017 and held the rights to reprints.
The company claimed Vance’s allegiance with Trump and his politics are the reason in a statement to German media:
Contrast
HarperCollins, a British/American publisher, is increasing its printing and sales of the book worldwide to meet the current demands for it.
Whether or not one agrees with Vance, the book is his impression of growing up. It is what made him the man that he is.
