Summary & Analysis of Educated: A Memoir: A Guide to the Book by Tara Westover (Unabridged‪)‬

Please note: This is a summary and analysis of the book and not the original book.

Educated - debut author Tara Westover’s gripping account of her life growing up barely literate in a conservative family in rural America and achieving academic success through hard work - is one of the greatest, and most well-told, inspirational stories of our times.

Number one New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Boston Globe best seller. Named one of the 10 best books of the year by The New York Times book review, one of President Barack Obama’s favorite books of the year, Bill Gates’ holiday reading list, finalist for the National Book Critics Circle’s John Leonard prize for best first book, longlisted for the Carnegie Medal for Excellence. 

Named one of the best books of the year by The Washington Post, O: The Oprah Magazine, Time, NPR, Good Morning America, San Francisco Chronicle, The Guardian, The Economist, Financial Times, and many more.

What does this ZIP Reads summary include?


Synopsis of the original book
Guide to the key players
Chapter-by-chapter summaries of Westover's experiences
Key themes from the original book
Editorial review
Background on Tara Westover


About the original book:

Tara Westover’s internationally feted debut, Educated, is a no-holds-barred memoir of her life growing up in an ultra-conservative survivalist Mormon family in Idaho in the 1990s. This is the inspirational story of how, having never been inside a classroom till she was seventeen, Westover went on to study at Cambridge and Harvard and write a book that has been lauded by people like Bill Gates and Barack Obama. This is also the story of the other America that, despite existing in our midst, continues to be suspect of the government and disowns children who try to join the mainstream.

Disclaimer: This audio book is intended as a companion to, not a replacement for, Educated: A Memoir. ZIP Reads is wholly responsible for this content and is not associated with the original author in any way.