German publishing house Ullstein Buchverlage has sparked outrage by deciding against a reprint of the sold-out German translation of Hillbilly Elegy, the 2016 autobiography of JD Vance, the newly picked running mate of US presidential hopeful Donald Trump.
Ullstein cited Vance’s alliance with Trump and his policies as the reason.
Hillbilly Elegy tells of Vance’s upbringing in a poor Ohio town and shines a light on the plight of poor rural whites in the US, often referred to pejoratively as “hillbillies’.
The book, first published in 2016 and made into a movie in 2020, has jumped to the top position on The New York Times‘ bestseller list after Trump chose Vance as his candidate for the vice presidency on July 18.
Ullstein published the German translation of Hillbilly Elegy in 2017 and held the rights for it until recently. The book has since sold out. When asked about a reprint the publishing house informed the press that it had not renewed the contract for the rights and decided against reprinting it in German. The publisher’s author page has already been deleted.
The company quoted Vance’s allegiance with Trump and his politics as the reason in a statement to German media: “At the time of its publication, the book made a valuable contribution to understanding the drifting apart of US society.”
Back then Vance had offered an authentic portrayal of growing up in the impoverished white working class, and at the time he had repeatedly distanced himself fromTrump. “In the meantime, he is officially acting alongside him and advocating an aggressively demagogic, exclusionary policy”, the statement continued.
According to a source close to the matter, the decision not to renew the rights had been taken a year ago – after Vance ran for senate in Ohio with Trump’s support.
Ullstein could have still have reprinted Hillbilly Elegy before the rights expired, but decided against it.
The decision has sparked outrage among German commentators. It has been called a case of cancel culture and financial folly.
German author Gerd Buurmann ironically expressed relief that Ullstein had just thrown Vance’s book out of its catalogue and not into the fire – a reference to the notorious book burnings instigated by the National Socialists in the 1930s.
Na, wenigstens wirft der Ullstein-Verlag das Buch von J. D. Vance nur aus dem Programm und nicht ins Feuer. Man muss in diesem Deutschland ja schon mit Kleinigkeiten zufrieden sein. pic.twitter.com/NwA1ycnEwq
— Gerd Buurmann (@Buurmann) July 24, 2024
Ullstein is a subsidiary of Bonnier Group, a Swedish media concern. Brussels Signal has reached out to Bonnier CEO Erik Haegerstrand for comment. He responded: “All publishing decisions are made by the local publishing houses. In this case Ullstein. That’s a cornerstone of the Bonnier operating model for all publishing activities.”
The rights to Hillbilly Elegy in German have now been picked up by the Munich publishing house YES, which has announced a reprint of the book available for sale starting August 15.
