appalachia

Small towns in Kentucky were devastated by the opioid epidemic. Now several recovering addicts are returning home, starting businesses and driving the economic renaissance of the Bluegrass State. Writer Sam Quinones details Kentucky’s organic recovery story. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.

When Barbara Kingsolver set out to write her latest novel, “Demon Copperhead,” she was already considered one of the most accomplished writers of our time. She had won awards including the Women’s Prize for Fiction and a National Humanities Medal, and had a track record of best-selling books, including “The Poisonwood Bible” and “Unsheltered.” But she felt there was one giant stone left unturned: to write “the great Appalachian novel.”

Kingsolver grew up in rural Kentucky and lives in southwestern Virginia. Appalachia is her home. So when national coverage of her region started increasing in the years since 2016, with a focus on the region’s problems — like deep rural poverty and the opioid epidemic — she felt something was missing. She wanted to write a novel about Appalachia from the inside, as someone who is a part of it and who grew up in it. “The story I wanted to tell was not about the big guys, but about the little people,” she told me.

And if major awards are any indication, Kingsolver succeeded. “Demon Copperhead” won the 2023 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and has been widely acclaimed for the nuanced portrait it paints of life in rural America. So I asked Kingsolver to talk about her background and the book, and to explore the often chasmic dissonance between how many of us city-dwellers think about Appalachia and the reality of living there.

Mentioned:

Shiloh and Other Stories by Bobbie Ann Mason

Book Recommendations:

Landings by Arwen Donahue

Raising Lazarus by Beth Macy

Pod by Laline Paull

Thoughts? Guest suggestions? Email us at ezrakleinshow@nytimes.com.

You can find transcripts (posted midday) and more episodes of “The Ezra Klein Show” at nytimes.com/ezra-klein-podcast, and you can find Ezra on Twitter @ezraklein. Book recommendations from all our guests are listed at https://www.nytimes.com/article/ezra-klein-show-book-recs.

This episode of “The Ezra Klein Show” was produced by Annie Galvin. Fact checking by Michelle Harris. Mixing by Sonia Herrero. Our senior editor is Rogé Karma. The show’s production team also includes Emefa Agawu, Jeff Geld, Rollin Hu and Kristin Lin. Original music by Isaac Jones. Audience strategy by Kristina Samulewski and Shannon Busta. The executive producer of New York Times Opinion Audio is Annie-Rose Strasser.

In 2016, J.D. Vance informally launched his political career with "Hillbilly Elegy," a memoir that blames the relative poverty of Appalachian and Rust Belt populations on their own culture. Despite its reactionary premise, mainstream and liberal press outlets were so enamored by the book that they accidentally made Vance a senator.

Support us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/IfBooksPod

Where to find us: 

• Twitter
• Peter's other podcast, 5-4
• Mike's other podcast, Maintenance Phase

Sources:

• Appalachian Reckoning 
• America’s Divided Recovery 
• What Did Hillbilly Elegy Get Wrong? 
• J.D. Vance, the False Prophet of Blue America 
• Hillbilly Elitism
• Welfare Queens and White Trash 
• Consumer Expenditures in 2016 
• Household Expenditures and Income 
• CFPB Data Point: Payday Lending 

Thanks to Mindseye for our theme song!

Four years ago, Hillbilly Elegy was a well regarded memoir, now, with its 2020 Netflix adaptation, the work has become critically panned and the subject of endless controversy. The author, J.D. Vance, wrote about his upbringing in the Appalachian regions of Kentucky and Middletown, Ohio. A look into the history and values in this area of the country, it was recommended by mainstream outlets and cultural leaders in mass for insight into the plights of the white working class that impacted the 2016 election. That praise was short lived, however, when the nearly unanimous edict came down from the media that the trials of impoverished white Americans were insignificant and should be ignored. J.D. joins the show to discuss the book, the media’s harsh shift, and how conservatives can connect with the Appalachian and Rust Belt regions of the country moving forward.

Become a Daily Wire member today to hear the bonus questions! Visit dailywire.com/Shapiro

This is the last Sunday Special of 2020! We will have new episodes coming out in 2021, but we will be trying a new format. Episodes won’t be released on a schedule; they will be recorded as we find the right guest and the right topic to discuss. We have had such an amazing lineup of guests this season, and we’re excited for next year. We’ll see you then!

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mountaintop removal mining is (to say the least) a controversial practice. But what exactly is it, how does it work and -- most importantly -- why should you care? Listen in to learn more about the effects of mountaintop removal mining.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.