Reading Order
Educated Reading Order
Tara Westover's Educated (2018) is the memoir of a woman who grew up in rural Idaho in a survivalist Mormon family, never went to school, and by self-directed study earned a PhD from Cambridge University. The contrast between her isolated, abusive childhood — her father believed the End Times were coming, her brother was violent, her parents refused all engagement with institutions — and her eventual arrival at the world's most prestigious educational institutions is one of the most extraordinary personal trajectories in recent memoir.
Where to start
Educated
Complete Educated Book List
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Educated
Tara Westover·2018·Start here — the complete standalone memoir. Westover has not published subsequent books.
Educated — Frequently Asked Questions
Is Educated a memoir or fiction?
Educated is a memoir — Tara Westover's account of her own life. Some family members have disputed certain events in the book. Westover maintains that the memoir represents her memory and experience; she notes that her siblings who support her account corroborate the key events. The Westovers are a real family in rural Idaho, and the central facts — Westover's lack of formal schooling, her self-directed study, her Cambridge PhD — are verifiable.
What should I read next after Educated?
Readers continue with other extraordinary education and escape memoirs: The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (chaotic nomadic childhood and self-education), Wild by Cheryl Strayed (a woman rebuilding herself through a solo hike), Hillbilly Elegy by J.D. Vance (growing up in working-class Appalachian Ohio), The Color of Water by James McBride, and I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai are the most commonly recommended companions.
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