Educated: A Memoir#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 young woman 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 OBAMA’S FAVORITE BOOKS OF THE YEAR • BILL GATES’S HOLIDAY READING LIST • FINALIST: National Book Critics Circle’s 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 Tara’s 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 she’d traveled too far, if there was still a way home. “Beautiful and propulsive . . . Despite the singularity of [Westover’s] 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 up?”—Vogue 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 |
Contents
Cream Shoes | |
Apache Women | |
Honest Dirt | |
In the Beginning | |
Shield and Buckler | |
Fish Eyes | |
What We Whispered and What We Screamed Chapter 23 Im from Idaho | |
A Knight Errant Chapter 25 The Work of Sulphur Chapter 26 Waiting for the Moving Water Chapter 27 If I Were a Woman | |
Pygmalion | |
Graduation | |
Part Three | |
Hand of the Almighty Chapter 31 Fearfully and Wonderfully Made Chapter 32 A Brawling Woman in a Wide House Chapter 33 Sorcery of Physics | |
The Substance of Things Chapter 35 West of the Sun Chapter 36 Four Long Arms Whirling Chapter 37 Gambling for Redemption Chapter 38 Stran... | |
Authors Note Acknowledgments A Note on the Text Further Reading About the Author | |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
asked began believed body brother called changed Charles church coming couldn’t Dad’s didn’t doctor don’t door drive drove eyes face father feel feet felt fingers girl give Grandma hands happened he’d head heard hold horses imagined kitchen knew later laughed learned leaving lecture listened living looked Luke memory mind minutes moment month morning Mother mountain moved never night opened parents passed Peak perhaps play pulled reached remember rest returned Richard seemed seen Shawn shouted smile someone standing stay stepped stood stopped story sure taken talked tell thing thought told took town tried trying turned Tyler understand understood voice waited walked wanted watched week woman