The Ullstein publishing house no longer wants to reprint JD Vance’s book. Why there should be room for the insightful book by a right-wing populist in a liberal publishing house.
You can call for censorship, complain about cowardice and generally moan about the state of the world: Because the venerable Ullstein publishing house has actually not renewed its license to distribute the German edition of a remarkable book by JD Vance. The author is the bearded guy with the broad shoulders that Donald Trump has brought to his side in his bid for power. And to him, everyone who votes for a party to the left of the AfD in this country seems like a communist.
Vance is younger than Trump, smarter and more dangerous. There is much to suggest that sooner or later he will be the leader of the America that sees liberal democracy and its institutions as its main enemy. Yuck, the book people at Ullstein must have thought. They don’t say much. A new edition was not planned, the remaining copies sold out quickly. The decision not to renew the expiring rights had already been made before Vance was nominated. This is a completely normal process.
JD Vance: hot commodity, a bit gross
It is not normal practice for German publishers to simply let bestsellers slip away. And Vance’s autobiographical book “Hillbilly Elegy” about the left-behind white working class in the USA is one of them. It was a hit as soon as it was published in 2016 – with over two million books sold in the USA alone, and it also topped the bestseller lists in Germany. Since its author became Trump’s potential vice president, demand has exploded. The German edition is number one on Amazon.de, with the English edition in third place. You have to look closely to see that the German book was not published by Ullstein, but by the small publisher YES, which secured the rights in a flash. It is supposedly available as a paperback within a few days, and other editions will follow. And that’s a good thing.
For years, the book was seen as a guide to understanding the popularity of Donald Trump – whom the author himself was critical of for a long time. “Hillbilly Elegy” shows a milieu that is characterized by violence and drugs, by hardship and hatred of everything foreign. The somewhat chubby JD grows up in the middle of it all. Service in the army shapes him, he somehow manages to get to Yale to study law, becomes a lawyer and something of a walking example of the American dream. In doing so, he looks at those he left behind with brutality and compassion. Anyone who reads this can actually get an idea of why a large proportion of Americans have turned away from their country. Even the German Chancellor is said to have been moved by the work.
All of this doesn’t make Vance any more sympathetic; he rails against the welfare state – even in the book. He would like to abolish the right to abortion, he abhors migrants, and Ukraine should go to hell. He insults his political opponents as “childless cat women.”
Everyone in their bubble
The fact that Ullstein Verlag no longer wants to distribute its top title has undoubtedly increased the feel-good factor in the Berlin media scene. There is now debate about whether the move was not also a missed opportunity to promote mutual understanding. JD Vance’s view of the world is absurd from the perspective of European liberals. But not everything will be fine if everyone involved stays in their respective bubbles and keeps as much distance as possible from those who think differently, feel differently and have different experiences. In this specific case, the damage is minimal, as the text will be available for purchase again after a slight delay.
But if you like, you can watch Robert Habeck’s appearance at the general assembly of well-meaning people at the OMR trade fair in Hamburg. Habeck says something like this: Part of the DNA of living freedom and democracy is that you have to understand why people have questions and problems. That you can’t just shout at those who think differently with what you have recognized as right. Vance’s book is one such case. It helps to understand. The fact that the author is personally the way he is doesn’t change anything. Perhaps it would have been an opportunity for the Ullstein publishing house to say: We’ll put up with the guy. For the time being, at least.