Vance’s ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ tops Amazon hours after Trump taps running mate

Sen. JD Vance’s memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” surged to the top of Amazon’s best-seller list on Monday, hours after former President Trump named the Ohio Republican as his running mate for the 2024 race.

The paperback and hardcover versions of “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,” were No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, on Amazon’s best-seller list as of Tuesday morning. The book was No. 220 earlier in the day, the Associated Press reported.

Sales of “Hillbilly Elegy” totaled at least 1.6 million copies as of Monday night, the AP reported, citing Circana, which tracks about 85 percent of hardcover and paperback sales.

The memoir, published in 2016, details Vance’s experience surrounded by poverty and addiction growing up in Middletown, Ohio. It gained popularity during and after the 2016 election as political observes sought to understand Trump’s quick rise in the political world.

Vance, a Marine veteran and Yale Law School graduate, discusses how the Appalachia transformed from Democratic to Republican, coupled with his chaotic family life. He describes how he was able to pursue his dreams despite being surrounded by violence and alcoholism, and having few opportunities in working-class white America.

The book was adapted into a movie by Ron Howard in 2020, starring Gabriel Basso, Glenn Close and Amy Adams.

The 39-year-old was elected to his first term in the Senate in 2022 after winning a crowded primary with the help of Trump’s endorsement.

Trump announced on Monday afternoon he tapped Vance as his running mate, citing his resume, service in the Marines, law school degree and the memoir.

“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond,” he added.

Vance emerged as one of the former president’s most visible defenders in Congress and has been praised by fellow Republicans as an articulate voice of the populist conservative movement.

His selection as Trump’s running mate was panned by Democrats, who pointed to his transformation as a one-time “never-Trumper,” as well as his conservative views on abortion.