Best-selling author Greg Mortenson has disappointed and confounded many people, including local reading groups and the Catawba College freshmen who soaked up his “Three Cups of Tea” as last summer’s reading assignment. But the purported fabrications in his story and questionable expenditures by his school-building charity shouldn’t cause people to angrily close the book on Mortenson’s mission. At least, not until we know the full story.
Mortenson’s 2006 book became an international phenomenon, making him a well-paid speaker and laying the cornerstone for his Central Asia Institute, a nonprofit that builds schools in remote areas of Afghanistan and Pakistan. That book and a sequel, “Turning Stones into Schools,” became required reading not only on college campuses but among U.S. military brass who linked the winning of hearts and minds to Mortenson’s message that education — particularly for young girls — was critical to countering Islamic radicalism.
Now, Mortenson is accused of fabricating parts of his story, and critics contend a significant portion of the $50 million donated to the institute was channeled instead into the Mortenson publicity machine. A “60 Minutes” expose said half of CAI schools its reporters visited were either unused or inadequately supported. Fellow author Jon Krakauer, who donated $75,000 to the institute, penned a scathing indictment titled “Three Cups of Deceit.”
We’ve been here before. James Frey received a public rebuke from Oprah for falsehoods in his purported memoir “A Million Little Pieces.” A couple of years ago, Margaret Setzer’s “Love and Consequences,” vividly recounting her youth amid the gang turfs of South Central L.A., turned out to be a hoax. Decades ago, Clifford Irving channeled Howard Hughes.
This time, however, more is at stake than reputations and royalties. Suicide bombers, public stonings and the oppression of women remain brute fact. Fanaticism flourishes amid ignorance and insularity. Education is a powerful antidote. Mortenson may have inflated his accomplishments, yet he has in fact launched schools, and some of them have transformed young lives. Even Krakauer concedes as much: “He has helped thousands of school kids in Pakistan and Afghanistan. … He has become perhaps the world’s most effective spokesperson for girls’ education in developing countries. And he deserves credit for that.”
While Mortenson has vanished from view, citing health issues, the Central Asia Institute has a new administrator who promises to operate with more transparency and carry on its worthwhile work. Let’s hope new leadership can rebuild trust as well as build sustainable schools. It would be a bitter drink indeed if the young people inspired by “Three Cups of Tea” were left with only the dregs of cynicism, exploitation and endless cycles of violence.