Tara Westover in conversation with David Runciman

Gates Cambridge alumna Tara Westover spoke to Professor David Runciman at the launch of her memoir, Educated (Penguin Random House, 2018). The book tells of her experiences growing up in rural Idaho, raised by a radical, survivalist father who was intensely paranoid about government interference in the lives of his family. The book has topped the US Amazon charts and been widely and very favourably reviewed. Comedian Stephen Fry commented: “There is no feeling like discovering a young writer who is springing up fully armed with so much talent.”
More details here: www.gatescambridge.org/news/w...

[@tracyp447]

I feel many will miss the underlining yet profound meaning in this book. If you have been raised in an environment as complicated as hers, you will catch it. It's between the words, between the sentences. It's in the stance she takes, the understanding she applies, and the commitment to make no one the victim or the perpetrator - even if this was the case. It's her ability to straddle between both worlds and still make sense out of it, sense that will help others do the same. There is love there, and where there is love there is understanding. I am grateful for her courage to write her story. I have a feeling it's only the beginning of the great things to come from this woman.

[@StorytellingHeadshots]

This is one of the best an most comprehensive statements I have read about this exceptional writer and her profoundly necessary book.

[@Steve-yx1xj]

if you acceot it as largely true

[@ryantaylor3005]

Many will miss it, of course you’re the one that has totally understood . Thanks for shedding your light on the rest of us philistines.

[@cconnon1912]

@@Steve-yx1xj- this comment of yours is how doubt and ignorance is bred over time. If you don’t believe her book, says so. It is your opinion. You instead prey on the weak minded to question themselves if they believe it. This is a tactic of people who don’t really know themselves or their convictions. If everyone in her family wrote books they would be the same book. Would they be true? Let people read the book and decide for themselves. Instead you cause doubt because in some way she threatens your world view. This is your fear.

[@Livelovelaughlila]

Her words just flow one after another...her personal growth went beyond what she credits herself in the book. It's really beautiful and gives me hope. I love how, instead of anger, she is at peace and doesn't put blame on anyone. I think a part of it is she does want to find a reason of why her upbringing was the way it was. She's gone through a period of anger and conflict within herself and has finally accepted to free herself. She chose to let the anger go and turned to understanding that her parents' actions were never intended to hurt her but more about their restrictive beliefs. Really inspiring.

[@chrisgordon5719]

The best book I've read in years. You need to really read it twice to really grasp this story. Its a lot more than someone that never goes to school until she enters college at age 17. Its far more than that.

[@dalpaengi]

I read it, listened to it, and I’ll read it again. You are so right. It must be reread.

[@Steve-yx1xj]

you need to get out more

[@stregalilith]

@@Steve-yx1xj Do you have some hidden reason for wanting to tear down her book? Is it that you haven't been able to write a book yourself that people care about or that you can't write one at all?

[@Jeets92]

I just read the book cover to cover, dropped everything to read this masterpiece. I guess I'm not the same person after reading it.

[@psmith7344]

I know how you feel.

[@LalaLa-ey2rc]

This book also changed my several point of views also. Really great book.

[@sarambecker1]

Same. It’s opened my eyes and given me a new perspective on my beliefs.

[@iga10000]

I could write this comment, only 4 years later.

[@markkennedy5479]

Mr. and Mrs. Gates made it financially possible for Tara Westover to go to Cambridge? What an extraordinarily good investment. Bravo! And thank you.

[@rosieoful]

Tara story is one of the best stories i have had the privilege to read.. i am amazed at how she self taught herself... Thank you Tara for writing it all down.

[@whiteangel7777777]

My question is do humans have to go through deep suffering to come out shining stars like this beautiful being ? I always wondered about that . I recently read another memoir were there was suffering as well and this lady was a shining star as well the book is Projection Encounters with my runaway mother by Priscila Uppal this book taught me to become a better mother and to sympathize with my own mother and appreciate her more and so much more

[@pauloleary3514]

My son and I both read it right away. I read it within 24 hours couldn't stop reading it couldn't put it down. We came to the conclusion that she is wicked smart as we say in Boston haha. Also highly motivated to do well and get out of a dangerous abusive environment. Finally we thought that compared to working in the junkyard with her father sitting and reading and listening to professors was a luxurious vacation. He's a school teacher and I am a truck driving Teamster we both could identify with her family situation. Great book. Want to read more

[@dalpaengi]

You’re really cool, Mr Oleary. Your son is blessed to have a father like you.

[@pauloleary3514]

@@dalpaengi thank you very much

[@edyongbao]

absolutely amazing. best book I've read this year. Thank you for uploading this

[@gerkoob]

The term I learned that might identify the role religion played in your father’s life is “religious ideation” for what that’s worth. You’ll find similar thoughts and behaviors on ant psych ward if you work in a hospital which is what I had to do as a young chaplain. Thank you for the contribution you have already made to the exploration and discussion of several important topics, mental health and the role of religion for one. Rev Diane Koob

[@XyZ-kd7bg]

There is absolutely NOTHING psychiatry won’t pathologize. Faith = “religious ideation” Sleeping = “avoidance behavior” Writing = “obsessive expression” Notice that Tara does the latter two every day. Yet, nobody’s pathologizing her life. Tara’s dad lives a quiet, independent life with his family, and you’re determined to find something wrong with that. By contrast, your “patients” lost EVERYTHING, once psychiatry convinced them to devalue and quit using their minds. No doubt, you’d prefer the latter option for Tara’s dad. You yearn for the destruction of anyone who acts to uphold their inviolate autonomy. Even Mr. Westover is saner than that. You’ve heard not a peep from him, despite his daughter’s relentless attacks on his work, his home, his loved ones, and his values. Neither you nor Tara are sane.

[@lexalina132]

Xy Z i’m not sure you read the book, nor am i sure you understand psychology and psychiatric care. It’s when things cross the line into obsession to the point of interfering with daily life that people take issue. Her father crossed that line and endangered his children many times, from what i can tell. It’s one thing to want to live as off grid as possible, to live off the hard work of your own bare hands and what the land provides for you. Mr. Westover and his family cross the line god knows how many times and get away with it in the end. You (generalized you) wanna go live on a farm in the middle of no where mountain, then have at it, best of luck to you, but these people endangered their children’s lives, allowed their daughters to be abused by their son, gaslight their daughter when she finally rips the blinders they forced on her off, AND call her a liar to top it off with a nice pretty bow. They can’t even get her freaking age right! By a lot! I try to think the best of everyone, i really do, but these are people who deserve nothing but shame and loathing for all the harm they’ve done to innocent children.

[@XyZ-kd7bg]

@@lexalina132 Assuming - with ZERO proof - that most of Tara's book is true, she would STILL have no excuse for demonizing her dad. Any number of supports (family-focused child care, a small business loan, a K-12 school system that accommodates nontraditional citizens, etc.) could have improved Tara's childhood. That could have materialized, with minimal infringement on her father's lifestyle, and NO attack on his character or body. Psychiatry cannot replace real-world opportunities. Nor can it classify ANYONE as automatically "wrong". You don't have to "think the best" of Tara's family. You simply have to treat them as you would like to be treated. And, I suspect, you wouldn't want to be treated like a monster, all on the basis of harsh (and monetized) allegations.

[@lexalina132]

Xy Z if it walks like a duck and acts like a duck, maybe it’s a duck. The behavior described in Tara’s book should have had CPS banging their door down to get those poor kids out of that hell hole. She never demonizes her father-she says it like it is, he’s a man who needs mental health care, and continues telling her story-they actually demonize her. Quite literally, they say (according to the book) she’s posessed by a demon, and present behavior consistent with what’s described in the book when they use an attorney to call into question what’s she’s saying. Hopefully this book will make CPS check on this family more often and prevent further abuse to their kids. I’ll certainly sleep better if that’s the case.

[@songjapark1492]

I listened amazing story about Tara ,she lived under terrible fear of violence and her father’s constant brain wash and survived from unimaginable family life. She survived and achieved so much in her young age. I hope her story affect many people under same situation be brave and get out make your own life.

[@tinkercreekhandknits]

Tara, you are such an inspiration. Keep writing, please!

[@markvignovic6232]

With her smarts and perspective on the person and education, she would be a great Secretary of Eduction

[@lovely-mk4rt]

Yes absolutely. I thought the same.

[@Steve-yx1xj]

eduction yes but not education

[@cynwestover3267]

Thank you for telling your story.

[@loveofinquiry8067]

Thank you for sharing your story Tara. You are a very refreshing human being.

[@lucymars4319]

I just finished the book late last night! Amazing feat of triumph! I am still in awe!

[@tonytafoya6217]

My Hero's have always been heroines. And Tara is one. She's a bona-fide role model.

[@geraldinewain665]

Thought provoking book, very complex and so is her life. Incredible perseverance to learn when many would give up. Hope you write another book. Wishing you a happy life. GW

[@jessicaharris8983]

Seriously the best book I've read. Good for her to write her life down In a book.

[@julianthould2038]

This is a very articulate discussion derived from Westover’s brilliant autobiography. Her account is sometimes horrifying but superbly nuanced and often humbling. She communicates what it was like to be part of a deprived rural Midwest culture without in any sense being superior or patronising. She sees value in an upbringing which, to many of us, seems horrendous. Her particular focus on the need to build bridges of understanding between rural and urban communities is echoed by RD Vance on his Hillbilly Elegy. Well worth listening to in full.

[@thelaurels13]

I just finished reading Tara’s book today. It is so powerful and gripping. The abuse she suffered at the hands of her vulgar brother Shawn makes for uncomfortable reading, but her book is so beautifully written. Her parents, especially her dad are just completely bat shit crazy cult followers. Her brother Shawn I strongly believe should be locked up, as he is a rather dangerous individual.

[@videosisee]

"Educated," by Tara Westover -- excellent book about a very different kind of childhood from what most children in the United States who attend public schools experience. There is no lack of brains in this family! It's just that her parents had an "unusual" belief system -- especially her father; enabled by her mother.

[@Steve-yx1xj]

what a better place the world would be if no-one believed in the supernatural

[@arnoldpenuel8857]

Inspiring, insightful, and wise! Thank you so much!

[@RomyMacias]

The audio is not the best. If there is a way to fix, please consider doing so. The content is amazing but the audio makes it difficult to hear.

[@whiteangel7777777]

I love her self confidence

[@marygrace5496]

Keep going strong, Tara!

[@jennagoforth3647]

Have you done recovery work in Al-aon? or another support group?

[@Amy-tl2xe]

She is amazing and very, very smart. I think her IQ is a big part of what saved her.

[@karlasmart-morstad2146]

Thank you for writing your story!

[@lokilostboy8893]

She made a lot of her story up. I actually know her dad and older brothers. Just saying

[@finelife6019]

Loki Lostboy can you please stop hating on this young woman ? I saw several comments of yours and they only make you look bad. Also, it doesn’t seem like you even read the book to be so judgmental. Tara is a smart young woman who is ambitious and want to go far in life. Be happy for her. I think you’re Shawn behind the screen.

[@lokilostboy8893]

@@finelife6019 lol why not look me up on Facebook? Find out who I actually am. It's not hard but you probably don't like being proven wrong so... if you even did a little bit of fact checking you'd know she's fake. I don't like people who make shit up for attention and I'm not the kind of person that keeps my opinion to myself.

[@finelife6019]

Loki Lostboy You are indeed a Lost Boy ! Did you read the book ? If not, then you can’t pass judgement. It’s that simple. Goodbye Shawn. Stop abusing your sister and wife 😝

[@lukem118]

The way that she talks from 39:55 onwards, you can really see her dad in her. They have radically different views on the world & differing preoccupations but they both have that same fire in their respective bellies.

[@prynner]

pity about the poor sound...

[@mdebhul1528]

Tara says 'He's a bit paranoid" !!!.. that is the understatement of the century..correction "father was batshit crazy, deluded, feckless, reckless, negligent with our health". "We would get injured quite a bit" another understatement, correction "some of us almost died, at his hands, we suffered horrific, horrendous pain, wounds, burns, accident at his neglectful hands, which could have been avoided" down playing this is NOT normal. The fathers words calling women "whores" was visited on the sons, on to the entire family in tirade after tirade their entire lives. The son then used this on his own sister, calling her a whore - she was a young girl. Another sadist in the making by a sadist. Fractured men incapable of being in this world without hurting others who shine and bring light. Downplaying ANY of this is beyond comprehension. Let call it what it is. No cotton-wooling this. The father inflicted his rage, his paranoia, his delusions, his extremism from his own multitude of inadequacies onto his own long-suffering family.

[@sarahfrates6734]

I am angrier at her family than she seems to be. She is still making excuses for them. these children should have been removed from that awful family and her brother Shawn put in prison for abuse. Painful childhood. Yes, her father's fundamentalism is not true Mormonism, but they way they treat women makes me angry. I am still worried about Shawn's wife.

[@lokilostboy8893]

I actually know her family and much of what she says is a complete fabrication or exaggeration

[@lokilostboy8893]

I actually had a rough childhood and it angers me that she feels she has to lie in order to succeed.

[@pbtraveler694]

@@lokilostboy8893 Her former boyfriend Drew has made a statement on amazon.com that it is NOT a fabrication.

[@lokilostboy8893]

@@pbtraveler694 her former boyfriend can say whatever he wants. I live down the road from her family. They don't live on a compound and aren't radical. They run their own business and are fairly self sufficient but they aren't survivalists. She has made a fortune by exaggerating and has convinced a lot of people she had a horrible childhood. She doesn't even know what a horrible childhood really is. Believe what you want, but I'm disgusted by what she's doing to make a buck. 😕

[@pbtraveler694]

@@lokilostboy8893 There are witnesses to her abuse, and her experience is her experience. You did not witness it, but that doesn't mean it didn't happen. Her family now being "fairly self sufficient" doesn't mean these things didn't happen, and in my experience, abusers can be pretty good at seeming "normal" to the outside world.

[@Ashallmusica]

As i read : She got offered a Gates Cambridge Scholarship Now she's here : Marvelous 💙

[@drivenhome7840]

She had an informal and restricted upbringing and then she had a formal and unrestricted education. However, she comes out and says they are actually reversed. Which is true and false. She is a perfect enigma.

[@claudialu]

She's finding healing and restoration.

[@patriciawilson4744]

You have to get a bachelor's degree before you can branch out and learn from your own perspective and choices. Of course Tara was educated by her family, and she carries that around with her as well as her plunge into more formal education which she excelled at.

[@user-gf6gf2iy2k]

Can't believe there were that many spare seats in the room.

[@wendykay3195]

I was raised with education but I do understand much of what she says about the beliefs she was taught about the illumiti, one world order, ect ...... I haven't read her book yet so I don't know if she was also taught about the mark of the beast, the chip that would be put into the babies at the hospitals at birth, the poison and aids given to children through vaccines, I know she talks about the brain washing in schools that i was taught, and I wonder about so many things ..... I feel a kinship with her in many ways :) .... I would love to compare notes LOL ..... our parents do their best ..... I hope my best will be based in truth .....

[@SereniaSaissa]

Her family were fundamentalist mormons. I dont think mormons follow the Anti-christ and Rapture ideology of the fundamentalist Protestant Religion. I am not a mormon, but I was raised in a pretty fundamentalist protestant church which I left by the time I was 20.

[@sapphirestrm]

For a universal context read A Thousand Splendid Suns, or the Kite Runner. Different religion and country, but same sort of locking children away from education and subjecting them to fundamentalist paranoid religion.

[@tonygordon6168]

I love her response. Reminds of something Jordan Peterson may say. 40 minutes in.

[@ClayBlasdel44]

No disrespect but the word "brainwashed" comes to mind. I wonder if the publisher considered it. "Brainwashed and Educated" seems apt.

[@roots4140]

The precursor to Q-Anon

[@susansnyder2982]

Huh?

[@merricat3025]

Yes, her families bizaar beliefs have become more mainstream. People that follow these conspiracies think they are so smart and the rest of us are sheep.

[@arinapriyanka887]

This girl is completely a contradiction. I think she's as disturbed as her father actually, just a lot more aware about it

[@CWdudeyo]

Please elaborate. How so?

[@rebeccaperson8581]

The book sounds interesting. But her parents sound very perceptive and they must be pretty discouraged to see their daughter fully involved in the pretexts of our society.

[@claudialu]

Pretty perceptive to have a nonchalant attitude toward the safety of their own children. Seeing them bleed almost to death and deny them to receive aid. To risk their lives and embarking on road trips in the middle of the night when a storm is about to unrevel.

[@Steve-yx1xj]

a joke ?

[@idahoapril]

This is my personal belief/thought on the content of Educated and nobody needs to agree with me. I take the part about her lack of education in early life with a grain of salt. I don't think one can get a good score (as she did) in the ACT without having had any background in Math or get a PhD from Cambridge without any connection with education early on. A lot of educational success (especially a PhD from Cambridge) takes place as result of life long learning and hard work in a formal/home school setting. It practically does not happen the way Tara says happened with her. She is a very impressive writer though. But some parts of it don't seem practically possible in real life. Getting a PhD from Cambridge at 27 without any education till age 17 is hard to fathom. Nature and Nurture both play a part and while it does sound very Romantic to portray oneself as this daughter of Nature with no educational nurturing turn out to become a PhD from Cambridge (that too within a span of only 10 years), it is hard to believe. I am sure I will offend many people. But think about it.

[@claudialu]

You lost me at "I don't think anyone can ace the ACT without proper training/education... I have a few people in my circle who have aced it and made it across the ocean and conquered the long-for academic diplomas.

[@deborahmoore7457]

She took the act 4x ....but I agree with you I’m not buying that whole thing either I think her brother Tyler helped her more than we know.

[@brandyhernandez61]

I'm sure there was some exposure to education; although, not in the same substance of others that attend a public school. Also, when one has a survivalist mentality, you would be surprised at what he or she can accomplish. The person is after all a survivor. 💪

[@lokilostboy8893]

Guys don't believe everything you read...

[@Infinitelywicked7]

Loki Lostboy hmmm, let me guess. You’re one of her insane relatives. Perhaps Shawn trying to abusive her into silence.

[@lokilostboy8893]

@@Infinitelywicked7 Haha nope I've just done some flirting for them. That's all. I live in Clifton which is the small town they live in.

[@lokilostboy8893]

@@Infinitelywicked7 nothing I said was abusive at all. I'm just telling you guys to do some fact checking. I'm not related to any of the Westovers. I just know them and they're nothing like how she describes. Are you so stupid that you think I have to be related to her to know her brothers and father? I guess you must be too believe she taught herself and got into college without a birth certificate and without her parents helping. Being home schooled isn't the same as teaching yourself. I've never even met her but she must've realized that most home schoolers are above average so she needed to create a fiction where she taught herself and a bunch of other shite or else her story wouldn't sell books. Pretty ingenious actually. She's got you all eating outta the palm of her hand. 😂😂😂😂

[@kimedge7493]

@@lokilostboy8893 If you had actually read the book you would know she never says she got into college without a birth certificate.

[@julierogers1155]

@@lokilostboy8893 "I've never met her" ..... but, of course you KNOW Tara is "lying". You are intimate enough with the MALES in the family that even though you do not know Tara, you KNOW Tara's truth? I wonder what dog you have in this "fight"? You have no credibility here. None. UNLESS, you reveal all and then we may evaluate your story.