Tara Westover

There’s a family not far from here,” Dad said. “They’re freedom fighters. They wouldn’t let the Government brainwash their kids in them public schools, so the Feds came after them.” Dad exhaled, long and slow. “

g about it was, “Next time, it could be us.”

g about it was, “Next time, it could be us.”

authority. She had no license, no certificates. She was a midwife entirely by the power of her own say-so, which was more than enough.

This is a calling from the Lord,” he said. “And sometimes the Lord asks for hard things.”

There was nothing he hated more than our being

dependent on the Governmen

Midwifery was not illegal in the state of Idaho, but it had not yet been sanctioned. If a delivery went wrong, a midwife might face charges for practicing medicine without a license; if things went very wrong, she could face criminal charges for manslaughter, even prison time. Few women would take such a risk, so midwives were scarce: on the day Judy left for Wyoming, Mother became the only midwife for a hundred miles.

Mrs. Someone-or-other was having premature contractions, she needed a bath in ginger to increase the supply of oxygen to the uterus.

the art of shutting up.”