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Educated : a memoir / Tara Westover.

Westover, Tara, (author.).

Summary:

Tara Westover was seventeen 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 distrusted the medical establishment, 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 an older brother became violent. When another brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. She taught herself enough mathematics, grammar, and science to take the ACT and was admitted to Brigham Young University. There, she studied psychology, politics, philosophy, and history, learning for the first time about pivotal 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 University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home

Record details

  • ISBN: 9780399590504
  • ISBN: 0399590501
  • ISBN: 9781786330512
  • ISBN: 1786330512
  • ISBN: 9781443452472
  • ISBN: 1443452475
  • ISBN: 039959051X
  • ISBN: 9780399590528
  • ISBN: 0399590528
  • ISBN: 9781984854858
  • Physical Description: xiii, 334 pages ; 24 cm
  • Publisher: New York : Random House, [2018]

Content descriptions

Target Audience Note:
870L Lexile
Study Program Information Note:
Accelerated Reader UG 6.4 19.0 500693.
Accelerated Reader AR UG 6.4 19 500693.
Awards Note:
#1 New York Times Bestseller
Alex Award, 2019
Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction Longlist, 2019
Chicago Public Library Best Top Ten Books, 2018
John Leonard Prize Finalist, 2018
Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography Finalist, 2018
National Book Critics Circle Award for Autobiography Finalist, 2018
NPR Best Books, 2018
Reading Women Award for Nonfiction, 2018
Subject:
Westover, Tara > Family.
Idaho > Rural conditions > Anecdotes.
Idaho > Biography. Survivalism > Idaho > Biography.| Victims of family violence > Idaho > Biography.| Women college students > United States > Biography.| Women. Women > Idaho > Biography.| Womyn.

Available copies

  • 182 of 222 copies available at NC Cardinal. (Show)
  • 2 of 3 copies available at Onslow County Public Library.

Holds

  • 6 current holds with 222 total copies.
Sort by distance from:
Show Only Available Copies
Location Call Number / Copy Notes Barcode Shelving Location Status Due Date
Richlands Branch Library BIO WESTOVER (Text) 36015000060737 Adult Biography Available -
Sneads Ferry Branch Library BIO WESTOVER (Text) 36015000796587 Adult Biography Available -
Swansboro Branch Library BIO WESTOVER (Text) 36015001035704 Adult Biography Checked out 08/08/2026

Accessibility Features

Summary: Tara Westover was seventeen 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 distrusted the medical establishment, 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 an older brother became violent. When another brother got himself into college and came back with news of the world beyond the mountain, Tara decided to try a new kind of life. She taught herself enough mathematics, grammar, and science to take the ACT and was admitted to Brigham Young University. There, she studied psychology, politics, philosophy, and history, learning for the first time about pivotal 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 University. Only then would she wonder if she'd traveled too far, if there was still a way home