Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.
Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.
Tara Westover was 17 the first time she set foot in a classroom. Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, she prepared for the end of the world by stockpiling home-canned peaches and sleeping with her "head-for-the-hills bag". In the summer she stewed herbs for her mother, a midwife and healer, and in the winter she salvaged in her father's junkyard.
Her father forbade hospitals, so Tara never saw a doctor or nurse. Gashes and concussions, even burns from explosions, were all treated at home with herbalism. The family was so isolated from mainstream society that there was no one to ensure the children received an education and no one to intervene when one of Tara's older brothers became violent.
Then, lacking any formal education, Tara began to educate herself. She taught herself enough mathematics and grammar to be admitted to Brigham Young University, where she studied history, learning for the first time about important world events like the Holocaust and the civil rights movement. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home.
Educated is an account of the struggle for self-invention. It is a tale of fierce family loyalty and of the grief that comes with severing the closest of ties. With the acute insight that distinguishes all great writers, Westover has crafted a universal coming-of-age story that gets to the heart of what an education is and what it offers: the perspective to see one's life through new eyes and the will to change it.
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Find Educated: A Memoir Tara Westover in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
Find Educated: A Memoir Tara Westover in PDF, EPUB, ebook, audiobook, print, or library editions.
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The depiction of self-directed learning and isolation from civic institutions reached a global audience through the publication of the 2018 non-fiction landmark Educated: A Memoir. Written by Tara Westover, the work details her upbringing off the grid in rural Idaho without formal schooling or medical care, followed by her eventual entry into higher education. The book spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list after debuting at number one, bringing widespread attention to the intersection of family ideology, personal autonomy, and academic discovery.
Born on September 27, 1986, in Clifton, Idaho, Westover was raised by radical survivalist parents who prepared for the 'End of Days' and avoided contact with government institutions. Without access to formal classroom instruction or public records during her early childhood, she taught herself the subjects necessary to pass the ACT exam. She gained admission to Brigham Young University, embarking on an academic track that led to a fellowship at Harvard University and a PhD in intellectual history and political thought from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 2014.
Following her graduate research, Westover turned her academic training toward autobiographical writing, resulting in her debut memoir. Her literary career expanded into broader civic and cultural roles, including serving as a trustee for PEN America and acting as the Rosenthal Writer in Residence at Harvard University in 2019. In March 2023, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal at the White House for her contributions to American literature and humanities discourse.
Westover's writing combines historical analytical discipline with personal narrative, exploring how extreme family insularity shapes individual worldview. Her work addresses themes of religious fundamentalism, survivalist ideology, estrangement, and the transformative power of formal education. By examining her transition from an isolated upbringing to advanced academic research, she presents education not merely as institutional achievement, but as a mechanism for developing independent perspective.
Her narrative technique relies on precise prose and critical distance, evaluating memories against collateral accounts and historical contexts. Rather than offering sensationalized accounts of survivalist life, her writing explores the psychological friction between loyalty to family and the pursuit of intellectual self-determination. This approach has led to widespread translation, with her memoir published in 49 languages worldwide.
1 books in catalog
The depiction of self-directed learning and isolation from civic institutions reached a global audience through the publication of the 2018 non-fiction landmark Educated: A Memoir. Written by Tara Westover, the work details her upbringing off the grid in rural Idaho without formal schooling or medical care, followed by her eventual entry into higher education. The book spent more than two years on The New York Times bestseller list after debuting at number one, bringing widespread attention to the intersection of family ideology, personal autonomy, and academic discovery.
Born on September 27, 1986, in Clifton, Idaho, Westover was raised by radical survivalist parents who prepared for the 'End of Days' and avoided contact with government institutions. Without access to formal classroom instruction or public records during her early childhood, she taught herself the subjects necessary to pass the ACT exam. She gained admission to Brigham Young University, embarking on an academic track that led to a fellowship at Harvard University and a PhD in intellectual history and political thought from Trinity College, Cambridge, in 2014.
Following her graduate research, Westover turned her academic training toward autobiographical writing, resulting in her debut memoir. Her literary career expanded into broader civic and cultural roles, including serving as a trustee for PEN America and acting as the Rosenthal Writer in Residence at Harvard University in 2019. In March 2023, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal at the White House for her contributions to American literature and humanities discourse.
Westover's writing combines historical analytical discipline with personal narrative, exploring how extreme family insularity shapes individual worldview. Her work addresses themes of religious fundamentalism, survivalist ideology, estrangement, and the transformative power of formal education. By examining her transition from an isolated upbringing to advanced academic research, she presents education not merely as institutional achievement, but as a mechanism for developing independent perspective.
Her narrative technique relies on precise prose and critical distance, evaluating memories against collateral accounts and historical contexts. Rather than offering sensationalized accounts of survivalist life, her writing explores the psychological friction between loyalty to family and the pursuit of intellectual self-determination. This approach has led to widespread translation, with her memoir published in 49 languages worldwide.
