Educated : A Memoir Access

Westover often highlights the difficulty of reconciling different family members' conflicting memories of the same traumatic events. IV. Critical Reception

Despite the cultural shock and financial strain, she earned a Gates Cambridge Scholarship and eventually completed a PhD in history at Cambridge University. II. Key Figures Educated : A memoir

Inspired by an older brother who went to college, Westover taught herself enough algebra and grammar to pass the ACT and enter Brigham Young University at age 17. despite moments of independence

The first to leave for college; he acts as a mentor and catalyst for Tara’s own pursuit of education. III. Major Themes Educated : A memoir

Her father’s deep mistrust of the government meant she never attended school, lacked a birth certificate until age nine, and received no traditional medical care.

A midwife and herbal healer who, despite moments of independence, remains loyal to her husband’s ideologies and fails to protect her children from domestic abuse.

Born the youngest of seven children to fundamentalist parents, Westover spent her childhood preparing for the apocalypse and working in her father’s junkyard.