COMMUNION

The evolution of a veep’s views.

Ten years ago, a little-known venture capitalist wrote a book about, in his words, “the upbringing of a redneck who worked in Silicon Valley.” The memoir had a modest initial print run of 10,000 copies. Hillbilly Elegy became a bestseller, and its author, for those who haven’t kept up with the news, is now the second-highest ranking official in the U.S. government. A sequel of sorts, Vance’s new book revisits old terrain and journeys to the present day. For a political memoir, it’s an uncommonly introspective work, well-paced and infused with touches of humor—much of it at the author’s expense. As a fearful new father, he enumerates a host of “worst-case scenarios” during a car ride—his wife, Usha, “nodded knowingly….I’m sure she thought, What a psycho I married.” Most of the book delves into his religious beliefs. Once an atheist, the Marine veteran makes a convincing case that he devoted a lot of thought to his conversion to Catholicism. As an example, he cites the influence of the French philosopher René Girard (who had taught Peter Thiel, Vance’s political patron, at Stanford). Less appealing is some of what Vance says about politics. He admits to a “boneheaded” error in infamously stating that “childless cat ladies” in the Democratic Party “were running our country into the ground,” but he sees a moral failing in societies that “suppress the biological urge to fall in love and have babies”—all while condemning “mass migration.” Elsewhere, he makes generalizations about “conformism” and “groupthink” and argues, fatuously, that “we replaced real diversity of thought with superficial diversity.” And, for a man who espouses Christian values, the presumptive 2028 presidential candidate says nothing—not surprisingly—about how his boss, whom he has defended for years, professes a love of the Bible yet routinely sows hatred. As the author writes in a line that could unwittingly address his own situation: “Politics is a dirty business sometimes, one where you have to make compromises.”

A thoughtful exploration of religious conviction that’s often marred by political stridency.