Hi, it's NPR's book of the day.

Tara Westover's memoir, Educated, is out now in paperback.

If you don't remember, this book was a big deal when it came out in 2018.

It's about her experience growing up in an abusive Mormon survivalist family,

then escaping that world to go into higher education,

from the Mormon Brigham Young University to Cambridge to Harvard.

The book became a bestseller, ending up on all the year-end lists,

and nobody was more surprised about the book blowing up than Tara herself.

When here and now's Robin Young caught up with her, she was still adjusting to being in the spotlight.

And she said something that speaks to our seemingly endless debates about so-called cancel culture and freedom of expression on college campuses.

She said that by way of her upbringing, she's held racist, sexist, homophobic views.

But she was only able to challenge those views by speaking

them out loud, something she felt more comfortable doing at BYU than at Cambridge or Harvard.

In the U.S., national security news can feel far away from daily life.

Distant wars, murky conflicts, diplomacy behind closed doors on our new show, Sources and Methods.

NPR reporters on the ground bring you stories of real people helping you understand why distant events matter here at home.

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Harvard.

So have you read the best books of 2018?

Well, one that is on most lists, including that of Time Magazine, Bill Gates, and the Obama's,

is Tara Westover's Educated, Her memoir of Growing Up In and Ultimately Leaving Leaving

Behind an extreme survivalist Mormon family in Idaho.

...