In the vein of Tara Westover's Educated, Daniella Mestyanek's memoir is a searing and powerful testament to a woman's ability to transform the circumstances of her life through inner strength and resilience.
Told in a beautiful, propulsive voice and with clear-eyed honesty, Uncultured first takes us behind the tall gates of a commune in Brazil, where Daniella Mestyanek Young was raised in the religious cult The Children of God, also known as The Family. From a young age, Daniella suffered from physical, emotional, and sexual abuse-masked as religious discipline and divine love-and was forbidden from getting a traditional education.
At fifteen years old, fed up with The Family and determined to build a better and freer life for herself, Daniella escaped to Texas. There, she bravely enrolled herself in high school and excelled, later graduating as valedictorian of her college class, then electing to join the military to begin a career as a military intelligence officer. She soon discovers, however, that her new world-surrounded by men on the sands of Afghanistan-looks remarkably similar to the one she desperately tried to leave behind.
More than a coming-of-age memoir about an exceptional upbringing, Uncultured explores the dangers unleashed when harmful group mentality goes unrecognized, and is emblematic of the many ways that women have to contort themselves to survive.
Daniella Mestyanek Young is a veteran's activist and speaker and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Organizational Psychology from Harvard University. While serving in the military, Daniella became one of the first women in history to conduct deliberate ground combat operations alongside her male counterparts and received the Presidential Volunteer Service Medal.
With a sensational voice and a remarkable story, this is a memoir that has the makings of a classic bestseller in the genre.
"A tremendous story of grit and determination."
-Julia Scheeres, New York Times bestselling author of Jesus Land
"Daniella Mestyanek Young's searing memoir elegantly and intricately intertwines the worlds of religious cult and military, brilliantly displaying their similarities in a way that is as undeniable as it is disturbing. It is a brutal, necessary look at the inherent ways institutions attempt to confine women to limiting roles. Ultimately, it's a story of resilience and Mestyanek Young's ability to place one boot in front of the other in the face of the unimaginable."
-Ryan Leigh Dostie, author of Formation and US Army veteran
"Page-turner is an understatement for Daniella Mestyanek Young's Uncultured, a gripping memoir of resilience, courage, grief, and the hope that comes when a woman knows her true worth."
-Rev. Dr. Angela Yarber, award-winning author of Queering the American Dream
"Uncultured is brutally honest . . . the unrelenting, innate resiliency that Daniella brings to life from a very early age makes us consider "Where does resiliency come from?" Her resolve to break her captor's chains, whether in the Children of God, the US Army or her personal relationships is at the heart of this well-written and engaging memoir."
-Tammy Smith, Major General, US Army (Retired)
"Uncultured gives readers the page-turning of a thriller with the heart and exploration of a memoir."
-New York Times bestselling author Taylor Stevens
"Powerful. Gripping. Sobering. Hopeful. I couldn't put it down. Uncultured is not only a memoir, but a cautionary tale for our time-and all times. In the end, we understand the resilience of the human spirit . . . how, despite the worst circumstances of our pasts, we are not prisoners to them."
-Ruth E. Van Reken, co-author of Third Culture Kids and co-founder of Families in Global Transition
"This book is a must-read that exposes the rampant and horrifying abuse of children raised in cults-and the unimaginable strength and courage of those children, like Daniella, who get out and survive and eventually thrive. With clarity, honesty and heartfelt emotion, she educates us not only about cults, but also about the similarities of coercive control in some of our most respected social institutions."
-Janja Lalich, Ph.D., professor and author of Take Back Your Life: Recovering from Cults and Abusive Relationships
