JD Vance’s Book Dropped by German Publisher

The Berlin-based publisher Ullstein has dropped its German translation of Hillbilly Elegy—JD Vance’s 2016 memoir—in response to him becoming Donald Trump’s running mate.

On July 15, the former president announced the Ohio senator as his pick for the Republican vice presidential nominee in November’s election.

Speaking to the German news magazine Der Spiegel, a spokesperson for the publishing house said it decided not to renew its licensing agreement or issue a reprint for the book because Vance represents a “demagogic, exclusionary policy.”

“At the time of publication, the book made a valuable contribution to understanding the disintegration of U.S. society,” the spokesperson said in translation, with the magazine adding that “Vance had offered an authentic portrayal of growing up in the impoverished white working class, and he also repeatedly distanced himself from Donald Trump at the time.”

“He is now officially acting on his side and represents an aggressive, demagogic, exclusionary policy,” the spokesperson said.

Yes, a publishing company in Munich, has snapped up the rights to Vance’s book and intends to reissue the German translation next month.

Also speaking to Der Spiegel, Yes co-founder Oliver Kuhn said the company “bought the book from the agency in America at very short notice when we found out that Ullstein had not renewed the rights.”

He said he expected it to be a bestseller because of the demand for the English translation. The 2016 memoir is currently No. 1 on the New York Times nonfiction bestseller list.

The book tells the story of Vance’s childhood living with his drug-addicted mother in Middletown Ohio, where the economy had collapsed.

Although living in Ohio, his family was from Kentucky, where he spent his summers, and the book describes “hillbilly” culture, including its values of family loyalty and the experience of poverty. It became a bestseller in 2016 as a study of the white working-class voters who helped Trump win the White House.

In an early passage about Middletown people, Vance wrote: “To these folks, poverty’s the family tradition. Their ancestors were day laborers in the southern slave economy, sharecroppers after that, coal miners after that, and machinists and millworkers during more recent times. Americans call them hillbillies, rednecks or white trash. I call them neighbors, friends and family.”

Vance has not always been a Trump supporter, once describing him as “America’s Hitler.” However, since running for the Senate in 2021, Vance has become a proponent of the Make America Great Again movement, saying he would not have certified the 2020 election if he were in then-Vice President Mike Pence’s position in January 2021.

Vance has also said that it is in “America’s best interest” for Ukraine to cede land to Russia to end the war.