The intellectual journey of JD Vance

For someone who is not yet 40, the path JD Vance walked to become the next potential vice president of the United States is a long and winding journey from the holler to Silicon Valley to the halls of the US Senate. It encompasses four different names – from James Donald Bowman to James David to James Hamel to James David Vance – and movement through a variety of worlds and circumstances, with very distinct cultures and influences. If the vice presidency is itself a very boring job in the realm of politics, tasked with worthless drudgery, Vance is far more interesting than the role requires. And his intellectual journey to this point, whatever you think of his views today, is worth understanding to get the measure of a man who seemed more likely to end up in academia than in the White House.

‘It’s hard to beat as the worst advice ever ’, Yuval Levin acknowledges, referencing his counsel to a young JD Vance against writing a memoir.