Educated audiobook cover - A Memoir

Educated

A Memoir

Tara Westover

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EducationBiography & Memoir

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Mind Map

Educated
Unconventional Upbringing+
The Struggle for Education+
Academic Ascent+
The Price of Freedom+

Quiz — Test Your Understanding

Question 1 of 8
Why did Tara Westover's father, Gene, refuse to send his children to public school?
  • A. He believed schools were too expensive and the family needed to save money.
  • B. He thought schools were government brainwashing facilities run by socialists.
  • C. He wanted them to focus exclusively on studying Mormon theology.
  • D. He believed the local schools in rural Idaho were academically inferior.
Question 2 of 8
Which event initially planted the seed of curiosity in Tara about pursuing higher education?
  • A. Her grandmother offering to take her to Arizona to enroll in school.
  • B. Her older brother Tyler making the bold decision to leave the farm and attend college.
  • C. Finding a stash of classic literature in the local public library.
  • D. A conversation with a theater director during a local play.
Question 3 of 8
What was one of the major academic challenges Tara faced during her first year at Brigham Young University (BYU)?
  • A. She was unfamiliar with basic historical concepts and terms, such as the Holocaust.
  • B. She could not read or write at a college level and had to take remedial English.
  • C. Her professors discriminated against her because of her fundamentalist Mormon background.
  • D. She refused to read any textbooks that contradicted her father's teachings.
Question 4 of 8
How did Tara first overcome her deep-seated fear and distrust of modern medicine?
  • A. She was forced into an ambulance after a severe car crash.
  • B. Her roommate secretly slipped medicine into her herbal tea.
  • C. She took ibuprofen for a terrible earache at the urging of a friend.
  • D. She required emergency surgery for a decaying tooth.
Question 5 of 8
What life-changing epiphany did Tara have while taking an Intro to Psychology class?
  • A. She recognized that her own social anxiety was a recognized medical condition.
  • B. She realized her brother Shawn's violent outbursts were a symptom of schizophrenia.
  • C. She discovered that her father's paranoid and erratic behavior perfectly matched the symptoms of bipolar disorder.
  • D. She learned that her mother's memory loss was due to a traumatic brain injury rather than aging.
Question 6 of 8
What role did Professor Jonathan Steinberg play in Tara's academic journey at Cambridge?
  • A. He convinced her to switch her major from music to psychology.
  • B. He rigorously critiqued her writing and helped her secure a spot in graduate school.
  • C. He provided her with a personal loan to pay for her decaying tooth.
  • D. He introduced her to feminist literature that radically changed her worldview.
Question 7 of 8
What ultimatum did Tara's parents present to her when they visited her at Harvard?
  • A. She must drop out of Harvard and return to work at the family junkyard or be disowned.
  • B. She must marry a Mormon man of their choosing or lose her inheritance.
  • C. She must accept a 'priesthood blessing' to be cleansed of demons and accept their version of reality regarding her brother's abuse.
  • D. She must publicly denounce her academic research on Mormonism or be excommunicated from the church.
Question 8 of 8
What was the ultimate personal cost Tara paid to earn her doctorate and maintain her independence?
  • A. She suffered a permanent physical injury from overworking herself.
  • B. She had to sever ties with her parents, though she remained close to some siblings and extended family.
  • C. She had to sever ties with her entire family, including all of her siblings.
  • D. She was forced to abandon her religious faith entirely and declare herself an atheist.

Educated — Full Chapter Overview

Educated Summary & Overview

Educated (2018) is the memoir of Tara Westover, who grew up in a Mormon family in rural Idaho, and, despite never attending school, was able to earn a PhD from the University of Cambridge. However, she had to pay a high price to achieve her academic dreams. Indeed, she lost her family in the process.

Who Should Listen to Educated?

  • Readers who love astonishing memoirs
  • Anyone interested in a peek inside a Mormon family
  • Teachers and anyone curious about higher education

About the Author: Tara Westover

Tara Westover was born in 1986, in Idaho. She received a BA from Brigham Young University and was awarded a Gates Cambridge Scholarship. She completed her PhD in history in 2014 and was also a visiting fellow at Harvard University. Educated is her first book.

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