Educated: A Memoir

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#1 NEW YORK TIMES, WALL STREET JOURNAL, AND BOSTON GLOBE BESTSELLER One of the most acclaimed books of our time: an unforgettable memoir about a youngwoman who, kept out of school, leaves her survivalist family and goes on to earn a PhD from Cambridge University

Extraordinary . . . an act of courage and self-invention.The New York Times

NAMED ONE OF THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW ONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMAS FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR BILL GATESS HOLIDAY READING LIST FINALIST: National Book Critics Circles Award In Autobiography and John Leonard Prize For Best First Book PEN/Jean Stein Book Award Los Angeles Times Book Prize

Born to survivalists in the mountains of Idaho, Tara Westover was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom. Her 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 Taras older brothers became violent. When another brother got himself into college, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. Her quest for knowledge transformed her, taking her over oceans and across continents, to Harvard and to Cambridge University. Only then would she wonder if shed traveled too far, if there was still a way home.

Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westovers] childhood, the questions her book poses are universal: How much of ourselves should we give to those we love And how much must we betray them to grow upVogue

ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR: The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times, Newsday, New York Post, theSkimm, Refinery29, Bloomberg, Self, Real Simple, Town & Country, Bustle, Paste, Publishers Weekly, Library Journal, LibraryReads, Book Riot, Pamela Paul, KQED, New York Public Library

Reviews

Westover has somehow managed not only to capture her unsurpassably exceptional upbringing, but to make her current situation seem not so exceptional at all, and resonant for many others.The New York Times Book Review

Westover is a keen and honest guide to the difficulties of filial love, and to the enchantment of embracing a life of the mind.The New Yorker

An amazing story, and truly inspiring. Its even better than youve heard.Bill Gates

Heart-wrenching . . . a beautiful testament to the power of education to open eyes and change lives.Amy Chua,TheNew York Times Book Review

A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent ofThe Glass Castle.O: The Oprah Magazine

Westovers one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind. . . . In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her. Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her.The Atlantic

Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable. Her new book, Educated, is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life.. . . out of four.USA Today

[Educated] left me speechless with wonder. [Westovers] lyrical prose is mesmerizing, as is her personal story, growing up in a family in which girls were supposed to aspire only to become wivesand in which coveting an education was considered sinful. Her journey will surprise and inspire men and women alike.Refinery29

Riveting . . . Westover brings readers deep into this world, a milieu usually hidden from outsiders. . . . Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests.The Economist

A subtle, nuanced study of how dysfunction of any kind can be normalized even within the most conventional family structure, and of the damage such containment can do.Financial Times

Whether narrating scenes of fury and violence or evoking rural landscapes or tortured self-analysis, Westover writes with uncommon intelligence and grace. . . . One of the most improbable and fascinating journeys Ive read in recent years.Newsday

Author Bio

Tara Westover is an American historian and memoirist.Her first book, Educated, debuted at #1 on the New York Times bestseller list and remained on the list, in hardcover, for more than two years. The book, a memoir of her upbringing in rural Idaho, was a finalist for a number of national awards,including the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the PEN/Jean Stein Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award. To date it has been translated into more than forty-five languages. The New York Times named Educated one of the 10 Best Books of 2018, and the American Booksellers Association voted Educated the Nonfiction Book of the Year.For her staggering impact, Time named Westover one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2019. Westover holds a PhD in intellectual history from Trinity College, Cambridge, and in 2019 she was the Rosenthal Writer in Residence at Harvard University.In 2023, she was awarded the National Humanities Medal by President Biden.