J.D. Vance memoir ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ tops the book, movie charts after VP pick

There’s nothing like getting nominated for vice president to give your memoir a second wind on the bestseller lists.

“Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of Family and Culture in Crisis,” the 2016 autobiography by Sen. J.D. Vance about his hardscrabble upbringing, rocketed up the Amazon Best Sellers list since former President Donald Trump selected the Ohio Republican as his running mate.

The paperback edition sat at #1 on Wednesday in Books, with the hardcover coming in right behind at #2, up from #220 prior to Mr. Trump’s announcement Monday ahead of the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee.

The 2020 film adaptation directed by Ron Howard also saw a surge, recharting on Netflix and becoming the fourth-most streamed show, with viewership increasing by 1,179% after Mr. Vance’s selection, according to Variety, citing data from Luminate.

Released during the pandemic, the movie starring Glenn Close and Amy Adams was something of a flop, but the book was a New York Times bestseller and viewed as hugely influential.

Its story of his family’s struggle to move out of poverty in Appalachia, with its themes of mental-health problems and drug abuse, propelled Mr. Vance to national prominence.

As of Wednesday, the book’s paperback, hardback and Kindle editions dominated the category of “U.S., State & Local History” on Amazon, the various forms of the work taking the top three slots. In the category of “Memoirs,” its various editions held down the top four slots, with the spoken Audible version joining the party.

The paperback edition was also #1 in the category of Sociology of Class.

Mr. Vance has said he wrote the book after graduating from Yale Law School at the suggestion of a professor.

“I was very bugged by this question of why there weren’t more kids like me at places like Yale … why isn’t there more upward mobility in the United States?” Mr. Vance said in 2016.