Tara Westover Talks About Going From Ignorance To Cambridge And Harvard

Air Date:
Heard On The Morning Show

“I am not the child my father raised, but he is the father who raised her,” writes Tara Westover towards the end of her memoir, Educated. Westover was raised with virtually no knowledge of the outside world; she would grow up to be a wife, a mother, and maybe a midwife or herbalist. She was taught to read and write, taught about the Bible, the Book of Mormon, Mormon prophets, the Founding Fathers — and virtually nothing beyond that. But at age 27, Westover got her PhD from Cambridge. This isn’t a story about pulling yourself up by your bootstraps. It isn’t even a story about religious fundamentalism. Educated is an exploration of the strange, impregnable binds of family, and how they can define a life.

Episode Credits

  • Kate Archer Kent Host
  • Colleen Leahy Producer
  • Tara Westover Guest

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