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Elizabeth Catte

What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia Paperback – February 6, 2018

by Elizabeth Catte (Author)

308 ratings

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In 2016, headlines declared Appalachia ground zero for America's "forgotten tribe" of white working class voters. Journalists flocked to the region to extract sympathetic profiles of families devastated by poverty, abandoned by establishment politics, and eager to consume cheap campaign promises. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia is a frank assessment of America's recent fascination with the people and problems of the region. The book analyzes trends in contemporary writing on Appalachia, presents a brief history of Appalachia with an eye toward unpacking Appalachian stereotypes, and provides examples of writing, art, and policy created by Appalachians as opposed to for Appalachians. The book offers a must-needed insider's perspective on the region.

Print length

146 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Belt Publishing
Publication date

February 6, 2018
Dimensions

5 x 0.4 x 7.25 inches
ISBN-10

0998904147
ISBN-13

978-0998904146
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“A bold refusal to submit to stereotype.” ―Kirkus Reviews

"Succeeds in providing a richer, more complex view of a much-maligned region." ―Publishers Weekly

"What are we getting wrong about Appalachia? A lot. And we are not just getting it wrong because we do not know. We are getting it wrong because reckoning with the reality of the Appalachia people and culture serves a historical project of disdain, distancing, and deliberate disinvestment in our nation. Elizabeth Catte has written an essential guide on how to talk about race, class, gender and the cultural geographies that shape our lives. Our discourse on Appalachia has been used a cudgel, much of it designed to obscure more than it reveals. Catte uses data and lived experiences to reveal an Appalachia that is not some 'othered' out there against which we compare ourselves to make inequality more palatable. This is a necessary antidote to the cyclical mainstream interest in Appalachia as a backwards, white working-class caricature.” ―Tressie McMillan Cottom, Professor of Sociology and author of Lower Ed: The Troubling Rise of For-Profit Colleges in the New Economy

"The most damning critique of Hillbilly Elegy." ―Nancy Isenberg, New York Review of Books

"A brief, forceful, and necessary correction." ―Frank Guan, Bookforum

"A necessary response to the bigotry against a much-maligned culture." ―Chris Offutt, author, Kentucky Straight

“Fiercely argued and solidly grounded, this an excellent primer on understanding and resisting the common distortions about Appalachia’s past and present.” ―Anthony Harkins, author of Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon

“You couldn't kill this book with a hammer. Come and watch Elizabeth Catte clip the hollow wings of little Jimmy Vance. Stay and behold an enlightened vision, a living solidarity found among the strong and varied peoples of this misunderstood land. What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia asks Florence Reece's old question: Which side are you on? Some of us are sticking to Appalachia until every battle's won.” ―Glenn Taylor, author of The Ballad of Trenchmount Taggart

"Highlighting decades of suppressed workers' rights movements, as well as prison facilities that still exploit low-cost labor, Catte expands the perspective on Appalachia. Readers will indeed get more right about this slice of the country after reading her book.” ―Cheryl Krocker McKeon, Shelf Awareness

Review

“Fiercely argued and solidly grounded, this an excellent primer on understanding and resisting the common distortions about Appalachia’s past and present.” ―Anthony Harkins, author of Hillbilly: A Cultural History of an American Icon

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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Belt Publishing; None edition (February 6, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 146 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0998904147
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0998904146
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 5.6 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.4 x 7.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #90,925 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #38 in Sociology of Rural Areas
- #115 in Human Geography (Books)
- #1,170 in U.S. State & Local History

Customer Reviews:
308 ratings

About the author

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Elizabeth Catte

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Dr. Elizabeth Catte is a historian and writer of compact non-fiction. She is the author of Pure America: Eugenics and the Making of Modern Virginia and What You Are Getting Wrong About Appalachia. Elizabeth's essays, with subjects ranging from politics to pop culture, have appeared in the Boston Review, the Nation, In These Times, and the Washington Post. She currently lives in Staunton, Virginia but calls Knoxville, Tennessee home.

Customer reviews

5 star		63%
4 star		16%
3 star		10%
2 star		3%
1 star		7%

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Top reviews from the United States

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kim smith

Very Disappointed

Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2018

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I can count on the fingers of one hand the books I have started and didn't finish. Sadly, this is one of those books. I live in Appalachia and have a passion for Appalachian history and culture. I can appreciate and respect that people have different opinions and viewpoints based on personal experiences but, in my opinion, this book is no more than a rant against JD Vance. Page after page of tirades against Hillbilly Elegy. I feel like her only purpose in writing this book was to tear down another author. Can't we agree to be respectful of each other even if we disagree? Very petty and unprofessional.

78 people found this helpful

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Scott Helms

Tearful and Hopeful Finish

Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2018

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If you want to learn about Vance, read Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy. If you want to REALLY KNOW Appalachia, read this wonderful ethnography of a historically challenged (mostly not by their own hands) yet artfully and culturally resolute region.

I found myself pleasantly emerging into rabbit holes of the region from which I may never emerge, and I couldn’t be happier.

Please read this book if you TRULY want to understand Appalachia.

92 people found this helpful

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Clover

Well done!

Reviewed in the United States on May 31, 2018

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If you want an accurate account of Appalachia's history and culture, this is the book for you. Don't even bother with JD Vance. I read Hillbilly Elegy and was offended and disappointed. It concerns me that he has become popular and something of a voice for the region. Terribly unfortunate for us who will have to live with the consequences of being inaccurately and unjustly perceived.
I live, work, and breathe Appalachia. Trust me. Pass on Vance, despite the hoopla, and read this instead. Or, at least read both and then decide for yourself.
Well done, Ms. Catte. Well done.

52 people found this helpful

Helpful

Joe

Read this before Hillbilly Elegy

Reviewed in the United States on March 6, 2018

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Yes this book is largely a response to Hillbilly Elegy. And yes, that is a view point we needed.

Catte, unlike Vance, is a native Appalachian with an actual nuanced view of the region.

If you’re going to bother reading Hillbilly Elegy, at least read this book as well.

62 people found this helpful

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C. D.

Nice try but falls short due to political messaging.

Reviewed in the United States on February 10, 2019

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Book arrived on time in good condition. It’s mostly a mashup of academic quotations attempting to refine the Appalachian culture. Her big message seems to be that there is Diversity in Appalachia. If you don’t already know that then you probably don’t know what Appalachian means nor how to pronounce it! Like so many others before her the author attempts to capture our unique culture yet it slips through her fingers like smoke. Nice try but gets bogged down in the usual never ending political war of words.

25 people found this helpful

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Ann M.

Please, just read this.

Reviewed in the United States on September 19, 2018

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There is so much good within this slim volume. I have read J.D.'s memior and if I could write this would be my reply as well. I think the academic tone here was perfect. If college courses are going to promote J.D.'s propaganda then this is a very good companion work. I hope it gets more traction. It's quite apparent how much political and commercial motivation was behind J.D.'s publication and this quiet release can't hope to compete with the $$$$ behind the other work, but this reply is well written, well researched and AWESOME.

26 people found this helpful

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Dallas Freeman

Excellent View of Real Appalachian Culture

Reviewed in the United States on September 29, 2018

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If I didn't think of this book as incredibly important I might be tempted to give it a four star rating. However, being an Appalachian and being haunted by people's ignorant and demeaning views of the region makes it easier for me to overlook the two or three minor spelling errors that I found.
This book is a scathing, visceral response to the mainstream view of Appalachia peddled by outsiders and outsiders in disguise. It exposes the manipulation of our history by corporations and individuals for personal and monetary gain. A few reviews I've read have used Catte's anger as an excuse to discredit her, and it's true at certain points in the book her anger and frustration shine through. But there's a reason for it to, we should all be angry that our narrative is being manufactured and sold and our region stereotyped and ridiculed from the mass production of misinformed propoganda.
If you're a fan of history this book is for you. If you're upset about the state of truth and reason in an age of fake news and pseudo-academics then this book is for you.

24 people found this helpful

Helpful

Ellie C.

Elizabeth Catte gets it mostly right.

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2018

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I'm from Appalachia, and Elizabeth Catte gets it mostly right. We are not a uniform population as depicted in Hillbilly Elegy and other publications. i agree with her position but the book sometimes feels like a doctoral dissertation. Filled with good information about the region, historical and current.

34 people found this helpful

Helpful

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Anckarström

Die Arbeiterklasse die angeblich Trump gewählt haben

Reviewed in Germany on April 21, 2018

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Wer den Bestseller Hillbilly Elegie von J.D.Vance gelesen hat, sollte unbedingt auch dieses Buch lesen. Appalachia ist der Bergregion in Amerika wo vor allem Kohle gefördert wird; einer der absolut ärmsten Regionen in Amerika. Es wird auch häufig behauptet, dass es diese Leute sind, die die Präsidentschaft von Donald Trump möglich gemacht haben.
Nun, Elegien sind Trauerlieder die dafür bekannt sind, dass sie nicht immer die Wahrheit vermitteln.
J.D.Vance beschreibt die Arbeiterklasse aus dem er stammt als gewalttätige, faule Menschen die häufig Alkohol und Drogen in großen Mengen konsumieren. Vance gibt auch an, einige Bücher über Soziologie gelesen zu haben, womit er seine Beschreibungen der Arbeiterklasse wie üblich am rechten Rand gerechtfertigt; sie sind faul, sie wollen nicht arbeiten und der Grund dafür ist, dass sie durch zu viel Sozialhilfe verwöhnt sind. Sie machen halt die falschen Entscheidungen im Leben, meint Vance.
Selbst hat er gewählt Marinesoldat zu werden, danach hat er an Yale studiert, als Risikokapitalist gearbeitet und überlegt jetzt, als Republikaner für den Senat zu kandidieren.
Das dies alles nicht so einfach ist wird durch das Buch von der Historikerin Elizabeth Catte ausführlich belegt. Im Gegensatz zu Vance hat sie umfassend geforscht und zeichnet ein ganz anderes Bild von den Menschen in der Region. Diese sind durch die Geschichte von verschiedenen Kapitalinteressen und staatlichen wie lokalen Behörden enteignet, ausgebeutet und verfolgt gewesen. Weil sie angeblich alle weiß sind kann man sie auch kritisieren ohne Gefahr zu laufen, als Rassist bezeichnet zu werden. Dies ist aber nicht der Fall. Die Menschen sind in dieser Region sehr heterogen, aber sie haben überwiegend gemeinsame Interessen. In dieser Region haben die größten Auseinandersetzungen zwischen der organisierte Arbeiterklasse und der skrupellose Kohleindustrie stattgefunden.
Das Buch ist leicht zu lesen und gibt auch eine Menge Tipps über weiterführende Literatur, Dokumentarfilme und Spielfilme wenn man mehr über diese Region wissen möchte.

One person found this helpful

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Cleo the questioner

Fascinating insight to the people of Appalachian mountains

Reviewed in Australia on March 26, 2018

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I chose to give this reading a 5 star rating because it confirmed in great detail my opinion that Donald Trump was not the saviour of the poor. the reading is confirmation of a society in distress. Alan Lomax in his book Land where the blues began suggests that instead of those problems of the 1930s and 1940s being cured, that those problems have now expanded to the haves and have nots. Big business are the only winners in our society now. What future do we look forward to?

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