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Back to Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Survivalist upbringing to an Ivy League education

Tara Westover grew up as a Mormon survivalist in rural Idaho. She didn’t go to school. She didn’t even have a birth certificate. When she and other family members got sick or injured, Tara’s mother treated them.

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By Madeleine Brand • Mar 19, 2018 • 1 min read

Tara Westover grew up as a Mormon survivalist in rural Idaho. She didn’t go to school. She didn’t even have a birth certificate. When she and other family members got sick or injured, Tara’s mother treated them. Tara left home when she was 17 to go to Brigham Young University, then went on to Harvard and Cambridge. Her studies gave her a much wider understanding of the world. However, in leaving her family behind, she also lost something precious.

  • https://images.ctfassets.net/2658fe8gbo8o/AvYox6VuEgcxpd20Xo9d3/769bca4fbf97bf022190f4813812c1e2/new-default.jpg?h=250

    Madeleine Brand

    Host, 'Press Play'

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    Gina Pollack

    Producer

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    Sarah Sweeney

    Vice President of Talk Programming, KCRW

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    Michell Eloy

    Line Editor, Press Play

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    Tara Westover

    author of “Educated, A Memoir.”

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