• Educated Tara Westover Family Pictures
• Educated Tara Westover Family

Educated is an account of Tara Westover's life as part of a Mormon funadmentalist family living in Idaho. Her father becomes increasingly radical, her brother Shawn grows to be increasingly abusive, and her mother is either unable or chooses not to protect her. Tara Westover is an American author. Raised in Idaho by a father who opposed public education, she never attended school. She spent her days working in her family’s junkyard or stewing herbs for her mother, a self-taught herbalist and midwife. She was seventeen the first time she set foot in a classroom.

An American memoirist Tara Westover is an example to all the writers. She also writes essays and histories to perfection. She is best known for her memoir ‘Educated’ which is top on the New York Times bestseller list.

Tara’s childhood struggles and family complications inspire her life. Unlike the modern era of technology and education, Tara felt that she lived back in the eighteenth century during her childhood.

Irrespective to her unusual childhood, she has established herself as one of the best memoirists in the United States. She had a difficult childhood but who is her family? Here’s all you need to know.

Tara Westover Family Tree and Photos

Being religious maybe good but sometimes it affects your children and their lifestyle. The same thing happened to Tara. She had a family nurturing her about religious beliefs but awareness.

Youngest of 7 children, Tara was born on September 1986 in Clifton, Idaho, United States. Her parents Val and Laree were old fashioned and superstitious. They even were suspicious about health care and hospitals.

Tara mentions her parents never went to the hospital or took any health facilities even for children. In case of an accident, the only solution was herbal alternatives. She spent her childhood in Idaho in slopes of Buck’s peak.

The Memoirist despite her struggling childhood, is quite educated herself. During her childhood, Parents homeschooled her. She learned about reading and writing from her brothers. She has completed MPhil, Ph.D. from Trinity College, Cambridge.

The Westover family was large and messy. Tara was the youngest of all 7 children. She follows after Tony, Shawn, Tyler, Luke, Audrey, and Richard as her siblings.

As a subject to abuse from her brother, she describes her awful childhood days. Her brother Shawn bullied her through tough times. She even complained to parents who thought it was “Satan’s doing”.

Photos and Media

Tara is a public figure popular among media. She has a social account on Twitter and Facebook. Despite her fame, she doesn’t have much of a personal presence on social media. Of course, different pages and accounts post about her book and ideas.

She has presented herself in different award ceremonies and won many of them as well. Her photos are mostly from ted talks, book readings, and interviews. She was influential among readers.

Barack Obama, former President of the United states complimented her book “Educated”. Unsurprisingly, she also appeared alongside the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates. Similarly, she was an inspirational icon even for celebrities and politicians.

Times Magazine lists her as one of the 10 most influential people of 2019. Likewise, She won the Goodreads Choice Award for Autobiography.

Due to her excellence, she won Amazon’s, Apple’s, Audible’s best choice awards as well.

Is Tara Westover Married?

Tara is an idol for tons of followers and they love her and her creations. Despite such an esteemed reputation, her romantic life and facts are unknown.

She has never revealed about her love life and marriages. The great has devoted her life to help and motivate people.

She aims to grant her childhood experience in writings so no other soul shall face the same. As per the public sources, the memoirist is single and has no history of marriages.

Herbalism

This article relates to Educated

Educated author Tara Westover's Idaho family runs Butterfly Express, a successful business selling essential oils and other herbal remedies. Her mother, LaRee Westover, trains herbalists and is the author of a book on herbalism, Butterfly Miracles with Essential Oils. Throughout her childhood, Westover was treated with foraged herbs instead of pharmaceuticals. 'For as long as I could remember, whenever I was in pain, whether from a cut or a toothache, Mother would make a tincture of lobelia and skullcap,' she writes. 'It had never lessened the pain, not one degree. Because of this, I had come to respect pain, even revere it, as necessary and untouchable.' It wasn't until she was in college that she tried painkiller pills for the first time.
Herbalism, the ancient practice of using plants for medicinal purposes, also has spiritual associations. Archaeological evidence suggests that herbal medicine was practiced as early as 60,000 years ago by Neanderthals. Today it is considered one branch of alternative or complementary medicine. It is still widely practiced in Asia and Africa, and occupies a niche in Western markets. In some cases the treatments also involve minerals and animal products, as in traditional Chinese medicine or Indian Ayurvedic medicine. Although many pharmaceuticals are derived from chemicals found in the natural environment (such as plants and fungi), they have to undergo stringent clinical testing, whereas herbal remedies usually have traditional worth but no objectively proven efficacy. They can be administered as herbal teas, topical salves, tinctures, or via aromatherapy.

The medical profession's suspicion of herbalism is well founded: there is uncertainty about the treatments' dosage and purity, and various herbs and drugs can have dangerous interactions. To try to uphold minimal standards of treatment, some countries offer formal training for herbalists. In the UK, the National Institute of Medical Herbalists certifies graduates of seven university courses in herbal medicine. It requires members to have a minimum of 500 hours of supervised clinical training, and guarantees that a code of ethics is maintained and any complaints are dealt with efficiently. The School of Herbal Medicine in Somerset runs a six-year program of on-the-job education that leads to a professional qualification.
In the USA, herbal remedies are considered dietary supplements, which are monitored by the Food and Drug Administration to ensure adherence to good manufacturing practices. As long as companies do not make specific medical claims for their products, they do not have to provide any proof of efficacy or safety. However, if a product is found to have damaging effects, the FDA can pull it from the market. In Canada, guidelines for herbal remedies are issued by the Natural and Non-prescription Health Products Directorate.
Herbalism may not command the same respect as medical science in some quarters, but it has been a part of human history for thousands of years and is practiced around the world. It cannot be ignored.

Picture of street vendor selling herbal remedies in Patzcuaro, Michoacan by Thelma Datter

Filed under Medicine, Science and Tech

This 'beyond the book article' relates to Educated. It originally ran in March 2018 and has been updated for the February 2018 edition. Go to magazine.

Educated Tara Westover Family Pictures

Educated Tara Westover Family

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