Amazon.com Review Amazon Editors' #1 Pick for the Best Book of 2018: Tara Westover wasn’t your garden variety college student

When the Holocaust was mentioned in a history class, she didn’t know what it was (no, really)

That’s because she didn’t see the inside of a classroom until the age of seventeen

Public education was one of the many things her religious fanatic father was dubious of, believing it a means for the government to brainwash its gullible citizens, and her mother wasn’t diligent on the homeschooling front

If it wasn’t for a brother who managed to extricate himself from their isolated—and often dangerous--world, Westover might still be in rural Idaho, trying to survive her survivalist upbringing

It’s a miraculous story she tells in her memoir Educated

For those of us who took our educations for granted, who occasionally fell asleep in large lecture halls (and inconveniently small ones), it’s hard to grasp the level of grit—not to mention intellect—required to pull off what Westover did

But eventually earning a PhD from Cambridge University may have been the easy part, at least compared to what she had to sacrifice to attain it

The courage it took to make that sacrifice was the truest indicator of how far she’d come, and how much she’d learned

Educated is an inspiring reminder that knowledge is, indeed, power

--Erin Kodicek, Amazon Book Review Read more Review “If [J

D.] Vance’s memoir offered street-heroin-grade drama, Westover’s is carfentanil, the stuff that tranquilizes elephants

The extremity of Westover’s upbringing emerges gradually through her telling, which only makes the telling more alluring and harrowing.”—The New York Times Book Review“Westover is a keen and honest guide to the difficulties of filial love, and to the enchantment of embracing a life of the mind.”—The New Yorker“An amazing story, and truly inspiring

It’s even better than you’ve heard.”—Bill Gates“Heart-wrenching

a beautiful testament to the power of education to open eyes and change lives.”—Amy Chua, TheNew York Times Book Review“A coming-of-age memoir reminiscent of The Glass Castle.”—O: The Oprah Magazine“Westover’s one-of-a-kind memoir is about the shaping of a mind

In briskly paced prose, she evokes a childhood that completely defined her

Yet it was also, she gradually sensed, deforming her.”—The Atlantic“Tara Westover is living proof that some people are flat-out, boots-always-laced-up indomitable

Her new book, Educated, is a heartbreaking, heartwarming, best-in-years memoir about striding beyond the limitations of birth and environment into a better life

★★★★ out of four.”—USA Today“[Educated] left me speechless with wonder

[Westover’s] lyrical prose is mesmerizing, as is her personal story, growing up in a family in which girls were supposed to aspire only to become wives—and in which coveting an education was considered sinful

Her journey will surprise and inspire men and women alike.”—Refinery29 “Riveting

Westover brings readers deep into this world, a milieu usually hidden from outsiders

Her story is remarkable, as each extreme anecdote described in tidy prose attests.”—The Economist “A subtle, nuanced study of how dysfunction of any kind can be normalized even within the most conventional family structure, and of the damage such containment can do.”—Financial Times “Whether narrating scenes of fury and violence or evoking rural landscapes or tortured self-analysis, Westover writes with uncommon intelligence and grace

One of the most improbable and fascinating journeys I’ve read in recent years.”—Newsday Read more See all Editorial Reviews