so-soCatte is an historian. Her historical knowledge and perspectives in this book are interesting and accurate at least in her view. However, her tone, and purpose writing this book, was to tell us all how pissed off she is about Hillbilly Elegy. I don‘t know that I‘ve ever read a book whose sole purpose it was to tell me how wrong another book/author is. To me, just because Catte is right, doesn‘t mean that Vance is wrong.
MelissaSue81 #readingwomenchallenge #booksetinappalachia 6y
KathyWheeler Hillbilly Elegy seemed to make a lot of people angry, but I just figured he was writing from his own experience. Whenever I read sections of it to my husband, who is from Appalachia, Vance‘s experiences resonated with him as well; he wasn‘t insulted by the book. 6y
MelissaSue81 @KathyWheeler - exactly. Vance‘s experience could very well be different from hers. His town might be different than where she is from.. She just came off as so angry with him.. But nonetheless, her historical background and arguments were solid. 6y
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KathyWheeler @MelissaSue81 I think I‘m going to read this as well to get that perspective. I‘m also interested in my husband‘s take on this book. Thanks for posting about it; I was unaware of it. 6y
SW-T I didn‘t like Vance‘s book for a lot of reasons so I‘m interested in this one to see how it compares. It makes me think of how Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With The Wind because she hated Uncle Tom‘s Cabin. Two very different perspectives about the same issue. 6y
MelissaSue81 @SW-T - You very well may agree with a lot of what she has to say.. she isn‘t even wrong.. but she repeatedly attacked him; his claims, his background, his career and his politics.. it felt like a bit of a temper tantrum to me. 6y
SW-T We‘ll see. It‘s possible to like opposing views if they‘re well presented. I like a well reasoned rebuttal but if it‘s just a temper tantrum I‘ve got too many other books to read. I have her book on hold so time will tell. 6y