On an April evening last year, Rod Dreher sat in the front row of an auditorium at the Heritage Foundation, in Washington, D.C., giddy with pride and happiness. He was there for the screening of a new documentary series based on one of his books, Live Not by Lies, about Christian dissidents from the former Soviet bloc'but first, a special guest was making his way toward the stage. J. D. Vance arrived at the podium to a roar of applause and told the crowd that he would not be the vice president of the United States if not for his friend Rod. It was Dreher, Vance said, who latched on to his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, a decade ago and promoted it on his blog for The American Conservative, helping to vault the book to the best-seller list. Dreher then became a friend and adviser to Vance as he launched his political career. After praising Dreher for 10 minutes, Vance invited him onstage. The two men hugged, each of them saying, 'I love you, man.' Unlike many in the crowd, Dreher, then 58,...
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